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Glass A H 

Book- - V ,IA *^ 5 



2? 




PIGEON COVE, CAPE ANN. 



NOOKS AND COEI^EES 



OF THE 



NEW ENGLAND COAST. 



• By SAMUEL ADAMS DRAKE, 

AUTHOR OF 

' OLD LANDMARKS OF BOSTON," " HISTORIC FIELDS AND MANSIONS OF MIDDLESEX," &o. 



-^ T r) n 



WITH NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS, r, 




L^ 



NEW YORK: 
HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS, 

FRANKLIN SQUARE. 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in tlie year 1875, by 

HARPER & BROTHERS, 

In the Office of tlie Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 

j::; 6 190/ 



Snscribcb bp permission, 

AND WITH SENTIMENTS OF HIGH RESPECT, 

TO 

HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW. 







''Oil this line, if it takes 
all summer^ 

S. A. D. 

June, 1875. 




CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

NEW ENGLAND OF THE ANCIENTS, 

Norumbega Kiver and City.— Early Discoverers, and Maps of New England.— Mode of taking 
Possession of new Countries.— Cruel Usage of Intruders by the English.— Penobscot Bay.— 
Character of first Emigrants to New England.— Is Friday unlucky? Page 17 

CHAPTER n. 

MOUNT DESERT ISLAND. 

About Islands.— Champlain's Discovery.— Mount Desert Range.— Somesville, and the Neighbor- 
hood.— Colony of Madame De Guercheville.— Descent of Sir S. Argall.— Treasure-trove. — 
Shell-heaps.— South-west Harbor.— The natural Sea-wall.— Islands off Somes's Sound 27 

CHAPTER HI. 

CHRISTMAS ON MOUNT DESERT. 

Excursion to Bar Harbor.— Green Mountain.— Eagle Lake.— Island Nomenclature.— Porcupine 
Islands.— Short Jaunts by the Shore.— Schooner Head. — Spouting Caves.— Sea Aquaria.— 
Audubon and Agassiz.— David Wasgatt Clark.— F. E. Church and the Artists.— Great Head. 
— Baye Fran9oise.— Mount Desert Rock.— Value of natural Sea-marks.— Newport Mount- 
ain, and the Way to Otter Creek.— The Islesmen.— North-east Harbor.— The Ovens.— The 
Gregoires.— Henrietta d'Orleans.— Yankee Curiosity ^0 

CHAPTER IV. 

CASTINE. 

Pentagoet.— A Fog in Penobscot Bay.— Rockland.— The Muscongus Grant.— Colonial Society.— 
Generals Knox and Lincoln.— Camden Hills.— Belfost and the River Penobscot.— Brigadier's 
Island.— Disappearance of the Salmon. —Approach to Castine. — Fort George.— Penobscot 
Expedition.— Sir John Moore.— Capture of General Wadsworth.— His remarkable Escape.— 
Rochambeau's Proposal. — La Peyrouse ^^ 

CHAPTER V. 

ft 

CASTINE — contimied. 

Old Fort Pentagoet.— Stephen Grindle's WindfliU.- Cob-money.— The Pilgrims at Penobscot.— 
Isaac de Razilly.— D'Aulnny Charnisay.— La Tour.— Descent of Sedgwick and Leverett.— 
Capture of Pentagoet, and Imprisonment of Chambly.— Colbert.— Baron Castin.— The younger 



10 CONTENTS. 

C:istin kidnnped. — Capucliins and Jesuits. — Intrigues of De Maintenon and Pere Lachaise. — 
Burial-ground of Castine. — About the Lobster. — Wbere is Down East? Page 73 

CHAPTER VI. 

PEMAQUID POINT. 

New Harbor. — Wayside Manners. — British Repulse at New Harbor. — Porgee Factory. — Process 
of converting the Fish into Oil. — Habits of tlie Mackerel. — Weymoiitirs Visit to Pemaquid. 
— Champlain again. — Popham Colony. — Cotton Mather on new Settlements. — English vs. 
French Endurance. — L'Ordre de Bon Temps. — Samoset. — Fort Frederick. — Resume' of the 
P>nglish Settlement and Forts. — John Nelson. — Capture of Fort William Henry. — D'Iberville, 
the knowing One. — Colonel Dunbar at Pemaquid. — Shell-heaps of Damariscotta. — Disappear- 
ance of the native Oyster in New England 87 

CHAPTER Vn. 

MONHEGAN ISLAND, 

Scenes on a Penobscot Steamer. — The Islanders. — Weymouth's Anchorage. — Monhegan de- 
scribed. — Combat between the Enterprise and Boxer, — Lieutenant Burrows 102 



CHAPTER VIH. 

FEOM WELLS TO OLD YORK. 

Wells. — John Wheelwright. — George Burroughs. — On the Beach. — Shiftings of the Sands. — 
What they produce. — Ingenuity of the Crow. — The Beach as a High-road. — Popular Super- 
stitions. — Ogunquit. — Bald Head Cliif. — Wreck of the Isidore. — Kennebunkport. — Cape Ned- 
dock. — The Nubble.— Captains Gosnold and Pring. — Moon-light on the Beach 109 

CHAPTER IX. 

AGAMENTICUS, THE ANCIENT CITY. 

Mount Agamenticus. — Basque Fishermen. — Sassafras. — The Long Sands. — Sea-weed and Shell- 
fish. — Foot -prints. — Old York Annals. — Sir Ferdinando Gorges.— York Meeting-house. — 
Handkerchief Moody. — Parson Moody. — David Sewall. — Old Jail. — Garrison Houses, Scot- 
land Parish 123 

CHAPTER X. 

AT KITTERY POINT, MAINE. 

York Bridge. — Poor Sally Cutts. — Fort M'Clary. — Sir William Pepperell. — Louisburg and 
Fontenoy. — Gerrish's Island. — Francis Champernowne. — Islands belonging to Kittery. — John 
Langdon. — Jacob Sheaflfe. — Washington at Kittery 141 

CHAPTER XI. 

THE ISLES OF SHOALS. 

De Monts sees them. — Smith's and Levett's Account. — Cod-fishery in the sixteenth Centuiy. — 
Sail down the Piscataqua. — The Isles. — Derivation of the Name. — Jeffrey's Ledge. — Star 
Island. — Little Meeting-house. — Character of the Islesmen. — Island Grave-yards. — Betty 



CONTENTS. 11 

Moody's Hole. -Natural Gorges.-Under the Cliffs.-Death of Miss Underhili. -Story of her 
Life.— Boon Island.— Wreck of the Nottingham.— Yish and Fishermen Page 153 

CHAPTER XII. 

THE ISLES OF SHOALS — COntVliCecl. 
Excursion to Smuttv Nose. -Piracy in New England Waters.-Blackbeard.-Thomas IMorton's 
B'lnishment.-Religious Liberty rs. License.- Custom of the May-pole.- Samuel Haley.- 
Spanish Wreck on Smutty Nose. -Graves of the Unknown. -Terrible Tragedy on the Island. 
-Appledore -Its ancient Settlement.-Smith's Cairn.-Duck Island. -Londoner's.-Thomas 
B. Laighton.-Mrs. Thaxter. -Light-houses in 1793.-White Islaud.-Story of a Wreck. 175 

CHAPTER XIII. 

NEWCASTLE AND NEIGHBORHOOD. 
The Way to the Island.-The Pool. -Ancient Ships.-Old House. -Town Charter and Records. 
-Influence of the Navv-yard.-Eort Constitution. -Little Harbor. -Captain John Mason.- 
-The Wentworth House.-The Portraits. -The Governors Wentworth and their Wives.- 

, 196 

Baron Steuben • 

CHAPTER XIV. 

SALEM VILLAGE, AND '92. 
The Witch-ground.-Antiquity of Witchcraft. -First Case in New England. -Curiosities of Witoh- 
craft. -Rebecca Nurse. -Beginning of Terrorism at Salem Village. -Humors of the Appari- 
tions.— General Putnam's Birthplace.— What may be seen in Danvers 208 

CHAPTER XV. 

A ^YALK TO WITCH HILL. 
Salem in 1692.-Birthplace of Hawthorne.- Old Witch House.— William Stoughton, Governor.— 
Witch Hill— A Leaf from History "^ 

CHAPTER XVI. 

MAKBLEHEAD. 

The Rock of Marblehead.— The Harbor and Neck.— Chat with the Light-keeper.— Decline of 
the Fisheries.— Fishery in the olden Time.— Early Annals of Marblehead.— Walks about the 
Town.-Crooked Lanes and antique Houses.-The Water-side. -The Fishermen.-How the 
Town looked in the Past.— Plain-spoken Clergymen and lawless Parishioners.— Anecdotes.— 
Jeremiah Lee and his Mansion. -The Town-house. - Chief-justice Story. -St. Michael's 
Church.-Elbridge Genw.— The old Ironsides of the Sea.— General John Glover.— Flood 
Ireson's, Oakum Bay.-Fort Sewall.-Escape of the Constitution Frigate. -Duel of the Chesa- 
peake and Shannon.-0\d Burial-ground. -The Grave-digger.-Perils of the Fishery 228 

CHAPTER XVII. 

PLYMOUTH. 
At the American Mecca.-Court Street. -Pilgrim Hall and Pilgrim Memorials.-Sargent's Pic- 
ture of the " Landing. "-Relics of the May^fiower.-Ynst Duel in New England.-Old Colony 



12 CONTENTS. 

Seal. — The "Compact." — First Execution in Plj-moiith. — Old "Body of Laws." — Pilgvini 
Chronicles. — View from Burial Hill. — The Harbor. — Names of Plymouth. — Plymouth, En- 
gland. — Lord Nelson's Generosity. — Plymouth the temporary Choice of the Pilgrims. — The 
Indian Plague. — Indian Superstition. — Who was first at Plymoutli ? — De Monts and Cham- 
plain. — Champlain's Voyages in New England. — French Pilgrims make the first Landing. — 
Why the Natives were hostile to the Pilgrims of 1G20. — Confusion among old Writers about 
Plymouth. — Among the Tombstones of Burial Hill. — The Pilgrims' Church-fortress. — What a 
Dutchman saw here in 1627. — Military Procession to Meeting. — Ancient Church Customs. — 
Puritans, Separatists, and Brownists. — Flight and Political Ostracism of the Pilgrims. — Their 
form of Worship. — First Church of Salem. — Plymouth founded on a Principle Page 261 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

PLYMOUTH, CLAEK's ISLAND, AND DUXBURY. 

Let us walk in Leyden Street. — The way Plymouth was built. — Governor Bradford's Corner.— 
Fragments of Family History. — How Marriage became a civil Act.— The Common-house. — 
John Oldham's Punishment. — The Allyne House. — James Otis and his Sister Mercy. — James 
Warren. — Cole's Hill, and its obliterated Graves. — Plymouth Rock. — True Date of the " Land- 
ing." — Christmas in Plymouth, and Bradford's Joke. — Pilgrim Toleration. — Samoset surprises 
Plymouth. — The Entry of Massasoit. — First American Congress. — To Clark's Island. — Wat- 
son's House. — Election Rock. — The Party of Discovery. — Duxbury. — Captains Hill and Miles 
Standish. — John Alden. — "Why don't you speak for yourself?" — Historical Iconoclasts. — 
Celebrities of Duxbury. — Winslow and Acadia. — Colonel Church. — The Dartmouth In- 
dians 2S3 

CHAPTER XIX. 

PROVINCETOWN. 

Cape Cod a Terra incognita. — Appearance of its Surface. — Historical Fragments. — The Pilgrims' 
first Landing. — New England Washing-day. — De Poutrincourt's Fight with Natives. — Province- 
town described. — Cape Names. — Portuguese Colony. — Cod and Mackerel Fishery. — Cod-fish 
Aristocracy. — Matt Prior and Lent. — Beginning of Whaling. — Mad Montague. — The Desert. — 
Cranberry Culture. — The moving Sand-hills. — Disappearance of ancient Forests. — The Beach. 
— Race Point. — Huts of Refuge. — Ice Blockade of 1874-'75. — Wreck of the Giovanni. — Phys- 
ical Aspects of the Cape Shores. — Old Wreck at Orleans ' 304 

CHAPTER XX. 

NANTUCKET. 

The old Voyagers again. — Derivation of the Name of Nantucket. — Sail from Wood's Hole to the 
Island. — Vine3'ard Sound. — Walks in Nantucket Streets. — Whales, Ships, and Whaling. — 
Nantucket in the Revolution. — Cruising for Whales. — The Camels. — Nantucket Sailors. — 
Loss of Ship Essex. — Town-crier. — Island History. — Quaker Sailors. — Thomas Mayhew. — 
Spermaceti. — Macy, Folger, Admiral Sir Isaac Coffin , 324: 

CHAPTER XXI. 

NANTUCKET — Continued. 

Taking Blackfish. — Blue-fishing at the Opening. — Walk to Coatue. — The Scallop-shell. — Struc 
ture of the Island. — Indian Legends. — Shepherd Life. — Absolutism of Indian Sagamores. — 



CONTENTS. 13 

Wasting of the Shores of the Island.— Siasconset.— Nantucket Carts.— Fishing-stages.— The 
Great South Shoal.— Sankoty Light.— Surfside Page 343 

CHAPTER XXII. 

NEWPORT OF AQCJIDNECK. 

General View of Newport. — Sail up the Harbor. — Commercial Decadence.— Street Rambles. — 
William Coddington. — Anne Hutchinson. — The Wantons. — Newport Artillery. — State-house 
Notes. Tristram Burgess. — Jewish Cemetery and Synagogue. — Judah Touro. — Redwood Li- 
brary.— The Old Stone Mill 35G 

CHAPTER XXIII. 

PICTURESQUE NEWPORT. 

The Cliff Walk.— Newport Cottages and Cottage Life.— Charlotte Cushman.— Fort Day and Fort 
Adams. —Bernard, the Engineer. — Dumplings Fort. —Canonicut. —Hessians. — Newport 
Drives.— The Beaches.— Purgatory.— Dean Berkeley 37:5 

CHAPTER XXIV. 

THE FRENCH AT NEWPORT. 

Behavior of the Troops.— Monarchy aiding Democracy.— D'Estaing.—Jourdan.— French Camps. 
— Rochambeau, De Ternay, De Noailles.— Efforts of England to break the Alliance.— Fred- 
erick's Remark.— Malmesbury and Potemkin.— Lord North and Yorktown. —George IIL— 
Biron, Due de Lauzun.— Chastellux, De Castries, Viomenil, Lameth, Dumas, La Peyrouse, 
Berthier, and Deux-Ponts.— The Regiment Auvergne.— Lutour D'Auvergne.— French Diplo- 
macy ^^^ 

CHAPTER XXV. 

NEWPORT CEMETERIES. 

Rhode Island Cemetery.— Curious Inscriptions. — William Ellery.— Oliver Hazard Perry.— The 
Quakers.— George Fox.— Quaker Persecution.— Other Grave-yards.— Lee and the Rhode Isl- 
and Tories.— Coddington and Gorton.— John Coggeshall.— Trinity Church-yard.— Dr. Samuel 
Hopkins.— Gilbert Stuart 398 

CHAPTER XXVI. 

TO MOUNT HOPE, AND BEYOND. 

Walk up the Island.— "Tonomy" Hill.- The Malbones.— Capture of General Prescott.— Talbot's 
Exploit. — Ancient Stages. — Windmills.— About Fish.— Lawton's Valley.— Battle of 1778. — 
Island History.— Mount Hope.— Philip's Death.— Dighton Rock.— Indian Antiquities.... 407 

CHAPTER XXVII. 

NEW LONDON AND NORWICH. 

Entrance to the Thames. —Fisher's Island. —Block Island.— New London. —Light-ships and 
Light-houses.— Hempstead House.— Bishop Seabury.— Old Burial-ground.— New London Har- 
bor.— The little Ship-destroyer.— Groton and Monument.— Arnold.— British Attack on Groton. 
—Fort Griswold.— The Pequots.— John Mason.— Silas Deane.— Beaumarchais.— John Led- 



yard. — Decatur and Hardy.- 
Chieftain. — Norwich Town.- 



14 CONTENTS. 

-Norwich City. — The Yantic picturesque. — Uncas, the Mohegan 
-Fine old Trees. — The Huntingtons Page 420 

CHAPTER XXVIII. 

SAYBROOK. 

Old Saybrook. — Disappearance of the Yankee.— Old Girls. — Isaac Hull.— The Harts. — Connecti- 
cut River. — Old Fortress. — Dutch Courage. — The Filgrims' Experiences. — Cromwell, Hamp- 
den, and Pym. — Lady Eenwick. — George Fenwick. — Lion Gardiner. — Old Burial-ground. — 
Yale College.— The Shore, and the End 441 



INDEX 451 




_ AT-'--^i%\-y' 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Pigeon Cove, Cape Ann. FrHispicce. 

Map In Prrface. 

Head-piece IS 

Jacques Cartier 20 

Captain John Smith 21 

Pierre du Gnast, Sieur de Monts 23 

Sir Humphrey Gilbert 24 

Fac- simile of first Map en- 
graved in New Eughmd 25 

Tail-piece 2C 

Mount Desert, from Blue Hill 

Bay 27 

Map of Mount Desert Island . . 28 

Samuel Champlaiu 29 

Head of Somes's Sound 32 

Echo Lake 33 

Cliffs, Dog Mountain, Somes's 

Sound ' 37 

The Stone Wall 3S 

Entrance to Somes's Sound ... 39 

Professor Agassiz 40 

View of Eagle Lake and the 

Sea from Green Mountain. . . 43 

Cliffs on Bald Porcupine 14 

Southerly End of Newport 
Mountain, near the Sand 

Beach 45 

Cave of the Sea, Schooner Head 40 

Cliffs at Schooner Head 47 

Devil's Den and Schooner Head 48 

Great Head 51 

The Ovens, Saulsbury's Cove.. 55 

Tail-piece 57 

Castine, approaching from 

Islesboro 58 

General Henry LLnox 61 

General Benjamin Lincoln 62 

Port Point 63 

View from Fort George 66 

Sir John Moore 67 

Fort Griffith 68 

Fort George 69 

Tail-piece 72 

Ruins of Fort Pentagoet 73 

Pine-tree Shilling 75 

Colbert 79 

Lobster Pot 85 

Tail-piece SO 

Old Port Frederick, Pemaquid 

Point S7 

"The Land-breeze of Evening" 88 

Cotton Mather 94 

Ancient Pemaquid 95 



PAGE 

Charlevoix 96 

French Frigate, Seventeenth 

Century 9S 

Hutchinson 99 

Monhegan Island 102 

Thatcher's Island Light, and 

Fog-signals, Cape Ann 103 

Graves of Barrows and Blythe, 

Portland 107 

Tail-piece (Burrows's Medal) .. 108 

Gorge, Bald Head Cliff 109 

Old Wrecks on the Beach 112 

The Morning Round 119 

What the Sea can do 123 

York Meeting-house 134 

Jail at Old York 130 

Pillory 137 

Stocks 137 

Old Garrison House 139 

Tail-piece 140 

Portsmouth, New Hampshire, 

from Kittery Bridge 141 

Navy Yard, Kittery, Maine 142 

Block-house and Fort, Kittery 

Point 144 

Sir William Pepperell's House, 

Kittery Point 145 

Sir William Pepperell 146 

Kittery Point, Maine 148 

Governor Langdon's Mansion, 

Portsmouth 150 

Tail-piece 152 

Whale's-back Light 153 

Portsmouth and the Isles of 

Shoals (Map) 154 

Shag and Mingo Rocks, Duck 

Island 158 

Meeting-house, Star Island 163 

The Graves, with Captain John 

Smith's Monument, Star Isl- 
and 105 

Gorge, Star Island 109 

Tail-piece 174 

Cliffs, White Island 175 

Blackboard, the Pirate 178 

Smutty Nose 182 

Haley Dock and Homestead... 183 
Ledge of Rocks, Smutty Nose . ISO 
South-ea<t End of Appledore, 

looking South 187 

Duck Island, from Appledore . . 188 

Laighton's Grave 190 

Londoner's, from Star Island. . 191 



Covered Way and Light-bouse, 

White Island 193 

White Island Light 194 

Tail-piece 195 

Weulworth Hou.¥e, Little Har- 
bor 196 

Point of Graves 197 

Old House, Great Island 198 

Old Tower, Newcastle 199 

Gate -way, old Fort Constitu- 
tion 200 

Sir Thomas Weiitworth, Went- 
worth House, Little Harbor. 201 

Marquis of Rockingham 202 

In the Wentworth House, Lit- 
tle Harbor 203 

Lady Hancock's Portrait in the 

Wentworth House 204 

Governor Benning Wentworth. 206 

Baron Steuben 207 

Witch Hill, Salem 20S 

Custom-house, Salem, Massa- 
chusetts 211 

Rebecca Nurse's House 213 

Procter House 214 

Birthplace of Putnam 217 

Putnam in British Uniform — 213 

Endicott Pear-tree 213 

Tail-piece (Putnam's Tavern 

Sign) 219 

Washington Street, Salem 220 

Birthplace of Hawthorne 221 

Shattnck House .-221 

Room in which Hawthorne was 

born 222 

The old Witch House 223 

Fragment of Examination of 

Rebecca Nurse 224 

Thomas Beadle's Tavern, 1692. 225 
Interior of First Church, Salem 227 
Ireson's House, Oakum Baj', 

Marblehead 228 

Great Head 229 

"The Churn" 230 

Drying Fish, Little Harbor 232 

Unloading Fish 235 

A Group of Antiques 237 

Lee Street 239 

Tucker's Wharf— the Steps .... 241 

Gregory Street 242 

Lee H(mse 245 

Town-house and Square 247 • 

St. Michael's, Marblehead 248 



16 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 



PAGE 

Elbridge Gerry 24!) 

The Gerrymiiuder 250 

"Old North" Congregational 

Church 251 

Samuel Tucker 252 

General Glover 253 

Fort Sewall 255 

Powder-house, 1755 256 

James Lawrence 257 

Glimpse of the Seamen's Mon- 
ument and old Burial-ground 25S 

Lone Graves 260 

" Sitting, stitching in a mourn- 
ful Muse" 260 

The Hoe, English Plymouth. . . 261 

Map of Plymouth 262 

Pilgrim Hall 263 

Brewster's Chest, and Stand- 

ish's Pot 263 

Laudiug of the Pilgrims 264 

Carver's and Brewster's Chairs 265 

Mincing Knife 265 

Peregrine White's Cabinet 265 

Standish's Sword 266 

The Old Colony Seal 267 

Map of Plymouth Bay 269 

Champlain's Map. — Port Cape 

St. Louis 274 

Tail-piece 2S2 

The Pilgiims' first Encounter.. 2S3 
Building on the Site of Brad- 
ford's Mansion 284 

Site of the Common House — 286 

The Allyne House 2S7 

The Joanna Davis House, 

Cole's Hill 288 

Plymouth Rock in 1850 289 

The Gurnet 296 

Watson's House, Clark's Island 297 
Election Rock, Clark's Island. 298 

Church's Sword 302 

Tail-piece 303 

Proviucetown, from the Hills.. 304 

Cohasset Narrows 305 

Highland Light, Cape Cod '^03 

Washing Fish 309 

Mackerel.— A Family Group. . . 813 

Pond Village, Cape Cod 315 

Picking and sorting Cranber- 
ries — Cape Cod 317 

Sand-hills, Proviucetown 318 

Life-boat Station.— Trial of the 

Bomb and Line 321 

Tail-piece (A "Sunfish") 323 

Nantucket, from the Sea 324 

Map of Cape Cod, Nantucket, 

and Martha's Vineyard 325 

Approach to Martha's Vineyard 326 
A Bit of Nantucket— the House- 
tops.... 328 



PAGE 

Last of the Whale-ships 332 

Whaling in the oldeu Time 333 

Whale of the Ancients 334 

E. Johnson's Studio, Nantucket 341 

Tail-piece 342 

Nantucket. — Old Windmill, 

looking ocean ward 343 

Captured Porpoise and Black- 
fish 345 

The Blue-fish 346 

Blue-fishing 347 

Homes of the Fishermen, Sias- 

conset 352 

The Sea-bluff, Siasconset 353 

Hauling a Dory over the Hills, 

Nantucket 354 

Light -house, Sankoty Head, 

Nantucket 355 

Tail-piece 355 

Newport, from Fort Adams 356 

Old Fort, Dumpling Rocks .... 358 

Old-time Houses 360 

Residence of Governor Cod- 

dington, Newport, 1641 361 

Newport State-house 363 

Commodore Perry's House 364 

Jewish Cemetery 365 

Jews' Synagogue, Newport 366 

Judah Touro 367 

The Redwood Library 368 

Abraham Redwood 369 j 

The Old Stone Mill 370 

The Perry Monument 371 

Tail-piece 372 

Boat Landing 373 

The Beach 374 

Cliff Walk 375 

The Cliffs.. 376 

A Newport Cottage 377 

Charlotte Cushman's Residence 377 

Spouting Rock 378 

The Dumplings '. 380 

Hessian Grenadier 381 

Coast Scene, Newport 382 

The Drive 383 

Purgatory Bluff 383 

Whitehall 384 

Washington Park, Newport 385 

D'Estaing 386 

Earl Howe 388 

Rochambeau 388 

Rochambeau's Head-quarters . 389 

Louis XVI 389 

Military Map of Rhode Island, 

1778 390 

Lafayette 391 

Baron Viomenil 391 

Trinity Church, Newport 392 

Chastellux 392 

Lauznn 393 



PAGE 

Mathieu Dumas 394 

Deux-Ponts ^ 395 

De Barras 395 

Latour D' Auvergue 396 

Tail-piece 397 

Graves on the Bluff, Fort Road 398 
Tombstones, Newport Ceme- 
tery 399 

Perry's Monument 401 

Oliver Hazard Perry 401 

Friends' Meeting-house 402 

George Pox 403 

Charles Lee 404 

Mount Hope 407 

The Glen 408 

A Rhode Island Windmill 409 

William Barton 410 

Silas Talbot 410 

Prescott's Head-qnarters 411 

Agricultural Prosperity 412 

From Butts's Hill, looking 

North 413 

Quaker Hill, from Butts's Hill, 

looking North 414 

Battle-ground of August 29,1778 414 
King Philip, from an old Print 415 
Inscription on Dighton Rock.. 416 
Old Leonard House, Raynham. 419 

New London in 1813 420 

New Loudon Harbou;, north 

View 421 

New London Light 421 

New London in 1781 (Map). . . . 422 
Old Block-house, Port Trum- 
bull 423 

A Light-ship on her Station . . . 424 

Court-house, New London 425 

Bishop Seabury's Monimieut . . 426 

Groton Monument 427 

Benedict Arnold 429 

Storming of the Indian For- 
tress 430 

Silas Deane 431 

Stephen Decatur 433 

Rustic Bridge, Norwich 434 

Old Mill, Norwich 435 

Signatures of Uucas and his 

Sous 436 

Uncas's Monument 437 

Arnold's Birthplace 437 

Elm-trees by the Wayside 438 

General Huntington's House . . 488 
Mansion of Governor Hunting- 
ton 439 

Congregational Church 440 

Tail-piece 440 

Peter Stuy vesant 441 

Isaac Hull 444 

A Moss-grown Memorial 446 

Tail-piece 449 




THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 



CHAPTER I. 



■NEW ENGLAND OF THE ANCIENTS. 

"This is the forest primeval. The murmuring pines and the hemlocks. 
Bearded with moss, and with garments green, indistinct in the twiiiglit, 
Stand like Druids of Old, with voices sad and prophetic, 
Stand like harpers hoar, with beards that rest on their bosoms. 
Loud from its rocisv caverns the deep-voiced neighboring ocean 
Speaks, and in accents disconsolate answers the wail of the forest." 

Longfellow. 

IN" many respects the sea-coast of Maine is the most reniai-kable of New 
England. It is senvited with craggy projections, studded witli liarbors, 
seamed with inlets. Broad bays conduct to rivers of great volume that an- 
nually bear her forests down to the sea. Her shores are barricaded with 
islands, and her waters teem with the abundance of the seas. Seen on the 
map, it is a splintered, jagged, forbidding sea-board ; beheld with the eye 
in a kindly season, its tawny headlands, green archipelagos, and inviting liar- 



18 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 

bors, infolding sites recalling the earlier efforts at European colonization, 
combine in a wondrous degree to win the admiration of the man of science, 
of letters, or of leisure. 

Maine embraces within her limits the senii-fixbulous Norunibega and Ma- 
voshen of ancient writers. Some portion of her territory has been known 
at various times by the names of Acadia, New France, and New England. 
The arms of France and of England have alternately been erected on her soil, 
and the flags of at least four powerful states have claimed her subjection. 
The most numerous and warlike of the primitive New England nations were 
seated here. Traces of French occupation are remaining in the names of St. 
Croix, Mount Desert, Isle au Haut, and Castine, names which neither treaties 
nor national prejudice have been quite able to eradicate. 

The name of Norumbega, or Norembegue, the earliest applied to New 
England, is attributed to the Portuguese and Spaniards. Jean Alfonse, the 
pilot of Roberval, the same person who is accredited with having been first 
to navigate the waters of Massachusetts Bay, gives them the credit of its 
discovery. It is true that Marc Lescarbot, the Parisian advocate whose re- 
lations are the foundations "of so many others, was at the colony of Port 
Royal in the year 1606, with Pontgrave, Champlain, and De Poutrincourt. 
This writer discredits all of Alfonso's statement in relation to the great 
river and coast of Norumbega, except that part of it in which he says the 
river had at its entrance many islands, banks, and rocks. In this fragment 
fiom the ^''Voyages Aventureux^'' of Alfonse, the embouchure of the river 
of Norumbega is placed in thirty degrees (" trente degrez ") and the pilot 
states that from thence the coast tui'ns to the west and west-north-west for 
more than two hundred and fifty leagues.' The most casual reader will know 
how to value such a relation without reference to the sarcasm of Lescarbot, 
when he says, "And well may he call his voyages adventurous, not for hini- 
self, who was never in the hundredth part of the places which he describes 
(at least it is easy to conjecture so), but for those who might wish to follow 
the routes which he directs the mariner to follow." After this, his claim to 
be considered the first European navigator in Massachusetts Bay must be re- 
ceived with many grains of allowance. 

Champlain, who remained in the country through the winter of 1605, on 
purpose to complete his map, has this to say of the river and city of Norum- 
bega; he is writing of the Penobscot: 

" I believe this river is that which several historians call Norumbegue, 
and which the greater part have written, is large and spacious, with many 
islands; and its entrance in forty-three and forty-three and a half; and othei's 
in forty-four, more or less, of latitude. As for the declination, I have neither 

' ",Et que passe cette riviere la cote tourne a lOuest et Ouest-Norouest plus de deux cens cin- 
quiinte lieue?,"etc. 



NEW ENGLAND OF THE ANCIENTS. 19 

* 

read nor heard any one speak of it. They describe also a great and very 

populous city of natives, dexterous and skillful, having cotton cloth. I am 

satisfied that the major part of those who make mention of it have never 

seen it, and speak from the hearsay evidence of those who know no more 

than themselves. I can well believe that there are some who have seen the 

embouchure, for the reason that there are, in fact, many islands there, and 

that it lies in the latitude of forty-four degrees at its entrance, as they say ; 

but that any have entered it is not credible ; for they must have desciibed 

it in quite another manner to have removed this doubt from many people." 

With this protest Champlain admits the country of Norumbega to a place 

on his map of 1612. 

In the ^'■Ilistoire TTniverselle des Indes Occidentales^'' printed at Douay in 
1607, the author, after describing Vii'ginia, speaks of Norumbega, its great 
river and beautiful city. The mouth of the river is fixed in the forty-fourth 
and the pretended city in the forty-fifth degree, wdiich approximates closely 
enough to the actual latitude of the Penobscot. This authority adds, that it 
is not known whence the name originated, for the Indians called it Agguncia.' 
It also refers to the island well situated for fishery at the mouth of the great 
river. On the map of Ortelius (1603) the two countries of Norumbega and 
Nova Francia occupy what is now Nova Scotia and New England respect- 
ively. The only features laid down in Nova Francia by name are "R. Grande 
Orsinora," " C. de laguas islas," and "Montagues St. Jean." These localities 
answer reasonably well to as many conjectures as there are mountains, 
streams, and capes in New England ; there is no projection of the coast 
corresponding with Cape Cod. Champlain names the River Penobscot, Pe- 
metegoit. By this appellation, with some trivial change in orthography, 
it continued known to the French until its final repossession by the En- 
glish.' 

Turning to the "painful collections of Master Hakluyt," the old preb- 
endary of Bristol, we find Mavoshen described as "a country lying to the 
north and by east of Virginia, between the degrees of 43 and 45, fortie 
leagues broad and fifty in length, lying in breadth east and west, and in 
length north and south. It is bordered on the east with a countrey, the peo- 
ple whereof they call TaiM-antines, on the west with Epistoman, o\\ the north 
with a very great Avood, called Senaglecounc, and on the south with the 
mayne ocean sea and many islands." In all these relations there is some- 
thing of fact, but much more that is too unsubstantial for the historian's ac- 
ceptance. The voyages of the Norsemen, of De Rut, and Thevet are still a 

' The monk Andre Thevet, who professes to have visited Norumbega Eiver in loat), says it 
was called by the natives "Agoncy." 

"^ According to the Abbe Maurault, Pentagoet, in the Indian vocabulary, signifies " a place in 
a river where there are rapids." On the authority of the "History of the Abenaquis," Penobscot 
is, "where the land is stony, or covered with rocks." 



20 



THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 



disputed and a barren field. I do not propose here to indulge in speculations 
respecting them. 

Francis I. demanded, it is said, to be shown that clause in tlie will of 

Adam which disinherited 
hitu in the New World for 
the benefit of the Span- 
iards. Under his favor, 
the Florentine Verrazani 
put to sea from Dieppe, in 
Xe Dauphine^ in the year 
1524,' By virtue of his 
discoveries the French na- 
tion claimed all the teri'i- 
tory now included in New 
England. The astute Fran- 
cis followed up the clew 
by dispatching, in 1534, 
Jacques Cartier in La 
Grande Hermine. Desjiite 
the busy times in Europe, 
near the close of his reign, 
Tlcnry IV. continued to fa- 
vor projects confirming the 
footing obtained by his 
predecessors. Until 1614, 
when the name of New 
England first appeared on 
Smith's map, the French 
JACQUES CARTIER. ^^^id. thc liouor of adding 

about all that was known to the geography of its sea-board. 

There can now be no harm in- saying that Captain John Smith was not 
the first to give a Christian name to New England. The Florentine Verra- 
zani called it, in 1524, New France, when he traversed the coasts from the 
thirty -fourth parallel to Newfoundland, or Prima Vista. Sebastian Cabot 
may have seen it before him; but this is only conjecture, though our great- 
grandfathers were willing to spill their blood rather than have it called New 
France, According to the "Modern Universal History," Cabot confessedly 
took formal possession of Newfoundland and Norumbega, whence he carried 
oft' three natives. In the "■Theatre Universel (V Ortelivs''' there is a map of 
America, engraved in 1572, and very minute, in which all the countries north 




' It is curious that three Italians— Cohimbus, Cabot, and Verrazani— should lead all others iu 
the discoveries of the American continent. 



NEW ENGLAND OF THE ANCIENTS. 



21 




and south are entitled New France. " The English," says a French au- 
thority, " had as yet nothing in that country, and there is nothing set down 
on this map for them." 

In Mercator's atlas of 1623 is a general map of America, which calls all 
the territory north and south of 
Canada New France. New En- 
gland does not find a place on this 
map. Canada is down as a particu- 
lar province. Virginia is also there. 

Captain John Smith's map of 
New England of 1614 contains 
many singular features. In his 
" Description of New England," 
printed in 1616, the Indian names 
are given of all their coast settle- 
ments. Prince Charles, however, 
altered these to English names af- 
ter the book was printed. The re- 
tention of some of them by the 
actual settlers might be accidental, 
but tliey appear much as if scat- 
tered at random over the paper. 
"Flimouth" is where it was located six years after the date of the map. 
York is called Boston, and Agamenticus " Snadouu Hill." Penobscot is called 
" Pembrock's Bay." 

The name of Cape Breton is said to occur on very early maps, antecedent 
even to Cartier's voyage. A map of Henry II, is the oldest mentioned. " Nu- 
rembega" is on a map in "Xe lieceuU de HamtislKS,''''^ tome iii., where there is 
an account of a Frenchman of Dieppe, and a map made before the discovery 
of "Jean Guartier." It is asserted that the Basque and Breton fishermen 
Avere on the coast of America before the Portuguese and Spaniards. Baron 
La Hontan says, " The seamen of French Biscay are known to be the most 
able and dexterous mariners that are in the world," It is pretty certain 
that Cape Breton had this name before the voyages of Cartier or Cham- 
plain. The Frenchman of Dieppe is supposed to be Thomas Aubert, whose 
discovery is assigned to the year 1508. 

The atlas of Guillaume and John Blauw has a map of America in tome i. 
There is a second, entitled JVova Belgica and JVbva Anglica. New England 
extends no farther tlian the Kennebec, where begins the territory of N^ova 
Francice Pars, in Avhich Norumbega is located. The rivers Pentagouet and 
Chouacouet (Saco) appear properly placed. The map bears certain marks in 



CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH. 



' Giambetta Ramusio, the Venetian. 



22 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 

its nomenclature, and the configuration of tlie coast, of being compiled from 
those of Champlain and Smitli.' 

Researches made in England, France, and Holland, at the instance of Mas- 
sachusetts and New York,^ liave resulted in the recovery of many manu- 
script fragments more or less interesting, bearing upon the question of pri- 
ority of discovery. Of these the following is not the least curious. If cre- 
dence may be placed in the author of the '"'' Memoires pour servlr d VHistoire 
de Dieppe^'' '"'' RechercJies sur les Voyages et decouvertes des Navigateurs Nor- 
mands^'' and '•'• Navigateurs Fnm<;.ais^'' the continent of America was discover- 
ed by Captain Cousin in the year 1488. Sailing from Dieppe, he was carried 
westward by a gale, and drawn by currents to an unknown coast, where he 
saw the mouth of a large river. 

Cousin's first officer was " un etranger nomme Pingon on Pinzon," who in- 
stigated the men to mutiny, and was so turbulent that, on the return of the 
caravel, Cousin charged hiui before the magistrates of Dieppe with mutiny, 
insubordination, and violence. He was banished from the city, and embarked 
four years afterward, say the Dieppois, with Christopher Columbus, to whom 
he had given information of the New World. ^ 

In the '"'•Bihliotheque RoyaW'' of Paris there is, or rather was, existing a 
manuscript (dated in 1545) entitled ''^ CosmograpJue de Jean Alfonce le Xaln- 
tongeois.'''' It is undoubtedly from this manuscript that Jean de Marnef and 
De St. Gelais compiled the " Voyages Aventureux d"* Alfonce Xaintongeois^'' 
printed in 1559, which includes an expedition along the coast from New- 
foundland southwardly to "une baye jusques par les 42 degres, entre la No- 
rembegue et la Fleuride," in 1543. 

Of Jean Alfonse it is known that he was one of Roberval's pilots, in his 
voyage of 1542 to Canada, and that he returned home with Cartier. Rober- 
val expected to find a north-west passage, and Jean Alfonse, who searched 
the coast for it, believed the land he saw to the southward to be part of the 
continent of Asia. His cruise within the latitude of Massachusetts Bay is 
also mentioned by Hakluyt. The claim of Alfonse to be the discoverer of 
Massachusetts Bay has been set forth with due prominence.* Alfonse and 
Champlain were both from the same old province in the west of France. 

It goes Avithout dispute that the older French historians knew little or 



* Champlain's map of 1G12 is entitled "Carte Geographiqve de la Novvelle France 

FAICTTE PAR LE SlEVR DE CHAMPLAIN SaINT ToNGOIS, CaPPITAINE OrDINAIRE POVR LE 

Roy en la Marine. Faid len 1612." Ail the territory from Labrador to Cape Cod is em- 
braced in this very curious map. Some of its details will be introduced in successive chapters as 
occasion may demand. There is another map of Champlain of 1632, /or^ detailU, but of less 
rarity than the first. 

"^ By Ben Perley Poore and John Romeyn Brodhead. 

' "Massachusetts Archives, French Documents, "vol. i., p. 269. 

* Rev. B. F. De Costa's "Northmen iu Maine." 



NEW ENGLAND OF THE ANCIENTS. 



23 



nothing of Ilakluyt and Piuvlias, So little did the aiFairs of the New- 
World engage their attention, that in the "Plistory of France," by Father 
Daniel, printed at Amster- 
dam in 1720, by the Com- 
pany of Jesuits, in six pon- 
derous tomes, the discover- 
ies and settlements in New- 
France (Canada) occupy no 
more than a dozen lines. 
Cartier,Roberval,DeMonts, 
and Cham plain are mention- 
ed, and that is all. 

When a vessel of the old 
navigators was approaching 
the coast, the precaution was 
taken of sending sailors to 
the mast-liead. These look- 
outs were relieved every 
two hours imtil night-fall, at 
which time, if the land was 
not yet in sight, they furl- 
ed their sails so as to make 
little or no way during the 
night. It was a matter of 
emulation among the ship's 
company who should first 
discover the land, as the 
passengers usually present- 
ed the lucky one with some 
pistoles. One writer men- 
tions that on board French 

vessels, after sighting Cape Race, the ceremony known among us as " cross- 
ing the line " was performed by the old salts on the green hands, without re- 
gard to season. 

The method of taking possession of a new country is thus described in 
the old chronicles: Jacques Cartier erected a cross thirty feet high, on which 
was suspended a shield with the arms of France and the words " Vive le Roy:' 
Sir Humphrey Gilbert, in 1583, raised a pillar at Newfoundland, with a plate 
of lead, having the queen's arms " graven thereon." A turf and a twig were 
presented to him, which he received with a hazel wand. The expression " by 
turf and tWMg," a symbol of actual possession of the soil and its products, is 
still to be met with in older New England records. 

Douglass, the American historian, speaking of Henry IV., says, "He plant- 




FIERRE DU GLAST, hlEUii DE JXON'TS. 



24 



THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 




SIR HU-MPHKEY GlLBEliT. 



0(1 a colony in Canada whicli subsists tofthis day. May it not long subsist ; 
it is a nuisance to our North American settlements: Delenda est Carthago.'''' 
The insigniticant attempt of Gosnold, in 1603, and the disastrous one of 

Popiiam, in 1607, contributed lit- 
tle to the knowledge of New 
England. But the absence of 
any actual possession of the soil 
did not prevent the exercise of 
unworthy violence toward in- 
truders on the territory claimed 
by the English crown. In 1613 
Sir Samuel Argall broke up the 
French settlement begun at Mount 
Desei't in that year, opening fire 
on tiie unsuspecting colonists be- 
Ibre he gave himself the trouble 
of a formal summons. Those of 
other nations fared little better, as 
the following recital will show: 
Purchas relates that "Sir Ber- 
nard Drake, a Devonshire knight, came to Newfoundland with a commission ; 
and having divers good ships under his command, he took many Portugal 
shii)S, and brought them into England as prizes. 

"Sir Bernard, as was said, having taken a Portugal ship, and brought her 
into one of our western ports, the seamen that were therein were sent to the 
prison adjoining the Castle of Exeter. At the next assizes held at the castle 
thei-e, about the 27th of Queen Elizabeth, when the prisonei's of the county 
were brought to be arraigned before Sergeant Flowerby, one of the judges 
appointed for this western circuit at tliat time, suddenly there arose such a 
noisome smell from the bar that a great number of people there present were 
therewith infected; whereof in a very short time after died the said judge, 
Sir John Chichester, Sir Arthur Bassett, and Sir Bei'uard Drake, knights, and 
justices of the peace there sitting on the bench; and eleven of the jury im- 
paneled, the twelfth only escaping; with divers other persons." 

Captain John Smith says: "The most northern part I was at was the Bay 
of Penobscot, which is east and west, north and south, more than ten leagues; 
but such were my occasions I was constrained to be satisfied of them I found 
in the ba}^ that the river ran far up into the land, and was well inhabited, 
with many people ; but they were from their habitations, either fishing among 
the isles, or hunting the lakes and woods for deer and beavers. 

"The bay is full of great islands of one, two, six, eight, or ten miles in 
length, which divide it into many faire and excellent good harbours. On 
the east of it are the Tarrantines, their mortal enemies, where inhabit the 



NEW ENGLAND OF THE ANCIENTS. 



25 



Fvench, as they repovt. timt live .ith these people as one nation or fam- 

"^'if the EnMisl, hail no speeial reason for self-gratulation in the q"»''"T of 
the m ora"t°s first introdnced into New England, the French have as httle 
• „ : t :le the„,se.ves. In order to people Aeadia, De Monts begged 
;ermission of Henri Quatre to tahe the vagabonds hat ™8^' ^;;° '^^ 
tl,e cities, or wandering at large through the country. Ihe k,ng acceded 

the request.' 




FAC-SIMILE OF FIRST MAI- B»GRAVED IN SFW ESCLASD. 



Aoain in a memoir on the state of the French plantations the following 

Agam, a Pentagonet, being at the head of all Acadia 

passage °-'-:„^^^'J,„ ,„,: been principally strengthened by the 
"" T "'ef of ut am t "vtesans that his majesty would have emigrate 
:r: i; 1 i :: oTmarrymg, so that this portion of the colcniy n.ay re- 

ve the accessions necessary to sustain it ag.ainst ns .-gM>- ; 

These statements are supported by the testimony of ^''^ J;'-" ° j-^ .! "l. 
■ 1 .„. ,v,.„ nfter the reor<»anizat on ot the troops in Canada, sc\ 
:::;:,;s1e e stt'li ir f otLFi;nce with a cargo of women of ordinary 
:::;uuli, umUthe direction of some old sta^emms^wh^^ 



" Mass. Archives, French Documents. 



Ibid. 



26 



THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 



three classes. The vestal virgins Avere heaped up (if I may so speak), one 
above another, in three different apartments, where the bridegrooms singled 
out their brides just as a butclier does ewes from among a flock of sheep. 
The sparks that wanted to be married made their addresses to the above- 
mentioned governesses, to whom they were obliged to give an account of 
their goods and estates before they were allowed to make their choice in the 
seraglio." After the selection was made, the marriage was concluded on the 
spot, in presence of a priest and a notary, the governor-general usually pre- 
senting the happy couple with some domestic animals with which to begin 
life anew. 

When the number of historical precedents is taken into account, the su- 
perstition long curi-ent among mariners with regard to setting sail on Fi-iday 
seems unaccountable. Columbus sailed from Spain on Friday, discovered 
land on Friday, and returned to Palos on Friday. Cabot discovered the 
American continent on Friday. Gosnold sailed from England on Friday, 
made land on Friday, and came to anchor on Friday at Exmouth. These 
coincidences might, it would seem, dispel, with American mariners at least, 
something of the dread with which a voyage begun on that day has long 
teen regarded. 




MOUNT DE ; :::, ! 1:l'M blue hill bay. 

CHAPTER 11. 

MOUNT DESERT ISLAND. 

"There, gloomily against the sky, 
The Dark Isles rear their summits high ; 
And Desert Rock, abrupt and bare, 
Lifts its gray turrets in the air." 

Whittier, 

TSLANDS possess, of themselves, a magnetism not vouchsafed to any spot 
-■- of the main-land. In cutting loose from the continent a feeling of freedom 
is at once experienced that comes spontaneously, and abides no longer than 
you remain an islander. You are conscious, in again setting foot on the main 
shore, of a change, which no analysis, however subtle, will settle altogether to 
your liking. Upon islands the majesty and power of the ocean come home 
to you, as in multiplying itself it pervades every fibre of your consciousness, 
gaining in vastness as you grow in knowledge of it. On islands it is always 
present — always roaring at your feet, or moaning at your back. 

Islands have had no little share in the world's doings. Corsica, Elba, and 
St. Helena are linked together by an unbroken historical chain. Honier and 
the isles of Greece, Capri and Tiberius loom in the twilight of antiquity. 
Thinking on Garibaldi or Victor Hugo, the mind instinctively lodges on Ca- 
prera or Guernsey. An island was the death of Philip II., and the ruin of 
Napoleon. In the New World, Santo Domingo, Cuba, and Newfoundland 
were first visited by Europeans. 

The islands of the New England coast have become beacons of her history. 
Mount Desert, Monhegan, and the Isles of Shoals, Clark's Island, Nantucket, 
The Vineyard, and Rhode Island have havens where the historian or antiqua- 
ry must put in before landing on broader ground. I might name a score of 



28 



THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 



Others of lesser note ; these are planets in our watery system. On this line 
many peaceful summer campaigns have been brought to a happy conclusion. 
Not a few have described the more genial aspects of Mount Desert. It has 
in fact given employment to many busy pens and famous pencils. I am not 
aware that its wintry guise has been portrayed on paper or on canvas. The 
very name is instinctively associated with an idea of desolateness : 

"The gray and thunder-smitten pile 
Wliich marks afar the Desert Isle." 

Champlain was no doubt impressed by the sight of its craggy summits, 
stripped of trees, basking their scarred and splintered steeps in a September 
sun. " I have called it," he says, " the Isle of Monts Deserts." 

In a little "/)«??acAe" of only seven- 
teen or eighteen tons burden, he had set 
out on the 2d of September, 1604, from 
St. Croix, to explore the coast of Xoruni- 
bega. Two natives accomjjanied him as 
guides. The same day, as they passed 
close to an island four or five leagues 
long, their bark struck a hardly sub- 
mero-cd rock, which tore a hole near the 




MAP OF MOUNT DESEKT ISLAND. 



MOUNT DESERT ISLAND. 



29 



Keel. They either sailed around the island, or explored it by land, as tlie 
strait between it and the main-land is described as being not more than a 
hundred paces in 
breadth. "The 
land," continues the 
French voyager, " is 
very high, intersect- 
ed by passes, ap- 
pearing from the sea 
like seven or eight 
mountains ranged 
near each other. 
The summits of the 
greater part of these 
are bare of trees, be- 
cause they are noth- 
ing but rocks." It 
was during this voy- 
age, and with equal 
pertinence, Cham- 
plain named Isle au 
Haat.' According 
to Pere Biard, the 
savages called the 
island of Mount 
Desert ^'Femetiq,''' 
" meaning," says M. I'Abbe Maurault, " that which is at the head." A 
crowned head it appears, seen on lanil or sea. 

It is curious to observe how the embouchure of the Penobscot is on either 
shore guarded by two such solitary ranges of mountains as the Camden and 
Mount Desert groups. They embrace about the same number of individual 
peaks, and approximate nearly enough in altitude. From Camden we may 
skirt tlie shores for a hundred and fifty miles to the west and south before 
meeting with another eminence; and then it is an isolated hill standing al- 
most niwn the line of division between Maine and New Hampshire that is 
encountered. On the shore of the main-land, west of Mount Desert, is Blue 
Hill, another lone mountain. Katahdin is still another astray, of grander 
proportions, it is true, but belonging to this family of lost mountains. Al- 
though they appear a continuous chain when massed by distance, the Mount 




SAMUEL CHAMPLAIN. 



1 "Champlain's Voyages," edit. 1G13. Mount Desert was also made out by the Boston colo- 
nists of 1630. The reader is referred for materials cf xMouut Desert's history to Champlaiu, Char- 
levoix, Lescarbot, Biard, and Furchas, vol. iv. 



30 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 

Desert range is, in reality, broken into little family groups, as exhibited on 
the map. 

Another peculiarity of the Mount Desert chain is that the eastern summits 
are the highest, terminating generally in precipitous and inaccessible cliffs. 
I asked a village ancient his idea of the origin of these mountains, and re- 
ceived it in two words, "Hove up." The cluster numbers thirteen eminences, 
to which the title " Old Thirteen " may be more fitly applied than to any po- 
litical community of modern history. This assemblage of hills with lakes in 
their laps at once recalled the Adirondack region, with some needful deduc- 
tions for the height and nakedness of the former when compared with the 
greater altitudes and grand old forests of the wilderness of northern New York. 

Should any adventurous spirit, after reading these pages, wish to see the 
Desert Isle in all its rugged grandeur, he may do so at the cost of some tri- 
fling inconveniences that do not fall to the lot of the summer tourist. In this 
case, Bangor or Bucksport will be the point of departure for a journey of from 
thirty to forty miles by stage, I came to the island by steamboat from Bos- 
ton, which landed me at Bucksport; whence I made my way via Ellsworth 
to Somesville. 

After glancing at the map of the island, I chose Somesville as a central 
point for my excursions, because it lies at the head of the sound, that divides 
the island almost in two, is the point toward which all roads converge, 
and is about equally distant from the harbors or places of particular resort. 
In summer I should have adopted the same plan until I had fully explored 
the shores of the Sound, the mountains that are contiguous, and the western 
half of the island. In twenty-four hours the visitor may know by heart the 
names of the mountains, lakes, coves, and settlements, with the roads leading 
to them; he may thereafter establish himself as convenience or fancy shall 
dictate. At Somesville there is a comfortable hostel, but the larger summer 
hotels are at Bar Harbor and at South-west Harbor. 

The accentuation should not fall on the last, but on the first syllable of 
Desert, although the name is almost universally mispronounced in Maine, and 
notably so on the island itself Usually it is Mount Des«r^, toned into Desert 
by the casual population, who thus give it a curious significance. 

Mount Desert is one of the wardens of Penobscot Bay, interposing its bulk 
between the waters of Frenchman's Bay on the east and Blue Hill Bay on 
the west. A bridge unites it with the main-land in the town of Trenton, 
where the opposite shores approach within rifle-shot of each other. This 
point is locally known as the Narrows. When I crossed, the tide was press- 
ing against the wooden piers, in a way to quicken the pace, masses of newly- 
formed ice that had floated out of Frenchman's Bay with the morning's ebb. 

You get a glimpse of Mount Desert in sailing up Penobscot Bay, where 
its mountains appear foreshortened into two cloudy shapes that you would 
fail to know again. But the highest hills between Bucksport and Ellsworth 



MOUNT DESERT ISLAND. 31 

display the whole range ; and from the latter place until the island is reached 
their snow-laced sides loomed grandly in the gray mists of a December day. 
In this condition of the atmosphere their outlines seemed more sharply cut 
than when thrown against a background of clear blue sky. I counted eight 
peaks, and then, on coming nearei-, others, that at lirst had blended with those 
higher and more distant ones, detached themselves. Green Mountain will be 
remembered as the highest of the chain. Beech and Dog mountains from their 
peculiarity of outline. A wider break between two hills indicates where the 
sea has driven the wedge called Somes's Sound into the side of the isle. 
"Western Mountain terminates tl\e range on the right ; Newport Mountain, 
Avith Bar Plarbor at its foot, is at the other extremity of the group. In ap- 
proaching from sea this order would appear reversed. 

The Somesville road is a nearly direct line drawn from the head of the 
Sound to the Narrows. Soon after passing the bridge, that to Bar Harbor 
diverged to the left. Crossing a strip of level land, we began the ascent of 
Town Hill through a dark growth of cedar, fir, and other evergreen trees. A 
little hamlet, where there is a post-office, crowns the summit of Town Hill. 
Not long after, the Sound opened into view one of those rare vistas that leave 
a picture for after remembrance. At first it seemed a lake shut in by the feet 
of two interlocking mountains, but the vessels that lay fast-moored in the ice 
w-ere plainly sea -going craft. Somesville lay beneath us, its little steeple 
pricking the frosty air. Cold, gray, and cheerless as th^r outward dress ap- 
peared, the mountains had more of impressiveness, now that they were cov- 
ered from base to summit with snow. They seemed really mountains and not 
hills, receiving an Alpine tone with their wintry vesture. 

After all, a winter landscape in New England is less gloomy than in the 
same zone of the Mississippi Valley, where, in the total absence of evergreen- 
trees, nothing but long reaches of naked forest rewards the eye, which roves 
in vain for some vantage-ground of relief Jutting points, well wooded with 
dark firs, or clumps of those trees standing by the roadside, were agreeable 
features in this connection. 

A brisk trot over the frozen road brought us to the end of the half-dozen 
miles that stretch between Somesville and the Narrows. The snow craunch- 
ed beneath the horses' feet as we glided through the village street ; in a mo- 
ment more the driver drew up with a flourish beside the door of an inn which 
bears for its ensign a name advantageously known in these latitudes. A 
rousing fire of birchen logs blazed on the open hearth. Above the mantel 
were cheap prints of the presidents, from Wasliington to Buchanan. I was 
made welcome, and thought of Shenstone when he says, 

" Whoe'er lias travel'd life's dull round, 
Wliate'er his fortunes may have been, 
Must sigh to think how oft he's found 
Life's warmest welcome at an inn." 



32 



THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 




HEAD OF SOMES S SOUND. 



An island fourteen miles long and a dozen broad, embracing a hundred 
square miles, and traversed from end to end by mountains, is to be approach- 
ed with respect. It excludes the idea of superficial observation. As the 
mountains bar the way to the southern shores, you must often make a long 
detour to reach a given point, or else commit yourself to the guidance of a deer- 
path, or the dry bed of some mountain torrent. In summer or in autumn, 
M'ith a little knowledge of woodcraft, a well-adjusted pocket-compass, and a 
stout staff, it is practicable to enter the hills, and make your way as the red 
Inmtsmen were of old accustomed to do; but in winter a guide would be in- 
dispensable, and you should have well-trained muscles to undertake it. 

The mountains have been ti'aversed again and again by fire, destroying 
not the Avood alone, but also the thin turf, the accumulations of years. The 
woods are full of the evidences of these fires in the charred remains of large 
trees that, after the passage of the flames, have been felled by tempests. At 
a distance of five miles the present growth resembles stubble; on a nearer 
approach it takes the appearance of underbrush ; and upon reaching the hills 
you find a young forest repairing the ravages made by fire, wind,« and the 
woodman's axe. "Fifty years ago," said JNIr. Somes, "those mountains were 
covered with a dark growth." Cedars, firs, hemlocks, and other evergreens, 
with a thick sprinkling of white-birch, and now and then a clump of beeches, 
make the principal base for the forest of the future on Mount Desert — pro- 



MOUNT DESERT ISLAND. 



33 



viJed always it is permitted to arrive at maturity. Hitherto tlie poverty or 
greed of the inhabitants has sacrificed every tree that was worth the hibor of 
felling. In the neighborhood of Saulsbury's Cove there are still to be seen, 
in inaccessible places, trees destined never to feel the axe's keen edge. 

Mine host of the village tavern, Daniel Somes, or "Old Uncle Daniel," as 
he is known far and near, is the grandson of the first settler of the name who 
emigrated from Gkuicester, Massachusetts, and "squatted" hei-e — "a vile 
phrase" — about 1760. Abraham Somes built on the little point of land in 
front of the tavern-door, from which a clump of shrubs may be seen growing 
near the spot. Other settlers came from Cape Cod, and were located at Hull's 
and other coves about the island. I asked my landlord if there were any 
family traditions relative to the short-lived settlement of the French, or traces 
of an occupation that might well have set his ancestors talking. He siiook 
his gray head in emphatic negative. Had I asked him for " Tam O'Shauter" 
or the "Brigs of Ayr," he would have given it to me stanza for stanza. 

There are few excursions to be made within a certain radius of Somesville 
that offer so much of variety and interest as that on the western side of the 
Sound, pursuing, with such wanderings as flmcy may suggest, the well-beat- 
en road to South-west Harbor. It is seven miles of hill and dale, lake and 
streain, with a succession of charming views constantly unfolding tliemselves 
before you. And here I may remark that the roads on the island are gener- 
ally good, and easily followed. 

The map may have so far introduced the island to the reader that he M'ill 




34 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 

be able to trace the route along the side of Robinson's Mountain, which is be- 
tween the road and the Sound, with two summits of nearly equal height, ris- 
ing- six hundred and forty and six hundred and eighty feet above it. At the 
right, in descending this road, is Echo Lake, a superb piece of water, having 
Beech Mountain at its foot. You stumble on it, as it were, unawares, and 
enjoy the surprise all the more for it. Broad-shouldered and deep-chested 
mountains wall in the reservoirs that have been filled by the snows melting 
from their sides. There are speckled trout to be taken in Echo Lake, as 
well as in the pond lying in Somesville. Of course the echo is to be tried, 
even if the mount gives back a saucy answer. 

Next below us is Dog Mountain. It has been shut out from view until you 
have uncovered it in passing by the lake. Dog Mountain's eastern and liigh- 
est crest is six hundred and eighty feet in the air. How much of resemblance 
it bears to a crouching mastiff depends in a great measure upon the imagina- 
tion of the beholder : 

Ham. "Do you see yonder cloud that's almost in shape of a camel? 

Pol. "By tlie mass, and 'tis like a camel indeed. 

Ham. "Methinks it is like a weasel. 

Pol. "It is backed like a weasel. 

Ham. "Or like a whale? 

Pol. "Very like a whale." 

Between Dog and Brown's Mountain on its eastern shore the Sound has 
forced its way for six or seven miles up into the centre of the island. At 
the southern foot of Dog Mountain is Fernald's Cove and Point, the sup- 
posed scene of the attempted settlement by the colony of Madame the Mar- 
chioness De Guercheville. Mr. De Costa has christened Brown's Mount- 
ain with the name of Mansell, from Sir Robert Mansell, vice-admiral in the 
times of James L and Charles L Tlie whole island was once called after the 
knight, but there is a touch of retributive justice in recollecting that the 
English, in expelling the French, have in turn been expelled from its nomen- 
clature. 

Turning now to what Prescott calls "historicals" for enlightenment on the 
subject of the colonization of Mount Desert, it appears that upon the return 
of De Monts to France he gave his town of Port Royal to Jean de Poutrin- 
court, whose voyage in 1606 along the coast of New England will be noticed 
in future chapters. The projects of De Monts having been overthrown by in- 
trigue, and thi-ough jealousy of the exclusive rights conferred by his patent, 
Madame De Guercheville, a "very charitable and pious lady" of the court,' 
entered into negotiation with Poutrincourt for the founding of Jesuit missions 
among the savages. Finding that Poutrincourt claimed more than he could 
conveniently establish a right to, Madame treated directly with Du Guast, wlio 

* She \vas one of the queen's ladies of honor, and wife of the Duke of Rochefoucauld Liancourt. 



MOUNT DESEUT ISLAND. 3.5 

ceded to her all the privileges derived by him from Henry IV. The king, in 
1607, confirmed all except the grant of Port Royal, which was reserved to 
Poutrincourt. The memorable year of 1610 ended the career of Henry, in 
the Rue de la Ferronerie. In 1611 the fathers, Pere Biard and Enemond 
Masse, of the College d'Eu, came over to Port Royal with Biencourt, the 
youno-er Poutrincourt. Daring the next year an expedition under the au- 
spices of Madame De Guercheville was prepared to follow, and, after taking 
on board the two Jesuits already at Port Royal, was to proceed to make a 
definitive settlement somewhere in the Penobscot. 

The colonists numbered in all about thirty persons, including two other 
Jesuit fathers, named Jacques Quentin and Gilbert Du Thet.^ The expedition 
was under the command of La Saussaye. In numbers it was about equal to 
the colony of Gosnold. 

La Saussaye arrived at Port Royal, and after taking on board the fathers, 
Biard and Masse, continued his route. Ai-riving oflT Menan, the vessel was 
enveloped by an impenetrable fog, which beset them for two days and nights. 
Tlieir situation was one of imminent danger, from which, if the relation of the 
Pere Biard is to be believed, they were delivered by prayer. On the morn- 
ing of the third day the fog lifted, disclosing the island of Mount Desert to 
their joyful eyes. The pilot landed them in a harbor on the east side of the 
island, where they gave thanks to God and celebrated the mass. They named 
the place and harbor St. Sauveur. 

Singularly enough, it now fell out, as seven years later it happened to the 
Leyden Pilgrims, that the pilot refused to carry them to their actual destina- 
tion at Kadesquit,^ in Pentagoet River. He alleged that the voyage was 
completed. After much wrangling the afi:*air was adjusted by the appear- 
ance of friendly Indians, who conducted the fathers to their own place of 
habitation. Upon viewing the spot, the colonists determined they could not 
do better than to settle upon it. They accordingly set about making a lodg- 
ment." 

The place where the colony was established is obscured as much by the 
relation of Biard as by time itself The language of the narration is calcu- 
lated to mislead, as the place is spoken of as " being shut in by the large island 
of Mount Desert." The Jesuit had undoubtedly full opportunity of becom- 
ing familiar with the locality, and his account was written after the dissolu- 
tion of the plantation by Argall. There is little doubt they were inhabiting 
some part of the isle, as Champlain in general terms as>^erts. Meanwhile the 
orassy slope of Fernald's Point gains many pilgrims. The brave ecclesiastic, 
Du Thet, could not have a nobler monument than the stately cliffs graven by 



^ Champlain : Mr. Shea says he was only a lay brother. 

' This has a resemblance to Ivenduskeag, and was probably the present Bangor. 

' Charlevoix savs the landing was on the north side of the island. 



36 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 

lightning and the storm wilh the liandwriting of tlie Omnipotent. The puny 
reverberations of Argall's broadsides were as nothing compared with the ar- 
tillery that has played upon these heights out of cloud battlements. 

Daring the summer of 1613, Samuel Argall, learning of the presence of 
the French, came upon them unawares, and in true buccaneer style. A very 
brief and unequal conflict ensued. Du Tiiet stood manfully by his gun, and 
fell, mortally wounded. Captain Flory and tiiree others also received wounds. 
Two were drowned. The French then surrendered. 

Argall's ship was called the Treasurer. Henri de Montmorency, Admiral 
of P^-ance, demanded justice of King James for the outrage, but I doubt that 
he ever received it. He alleged that, besides killing several of the colonists 
and transporting others as prisoners to Virginia, Argall had put the remain- 
der in a little skifl" and abandoned them to the mercy of the waves. Thus 
ended the fourth attempt to colonize New England. 

Argall, it is asserted, had the baseness to purloin the commission of La 
Saussaye, as it favored his project of plundering the French more at his ease, 
the two crowns of England and France being then at peace. He was af- 
terward knighted by King James, and became a member of the Council of 
Plymouth, and Deputy-governor of Virginia. During a second expedition to 
Acadia, he destroyed all traces of the colony of JNIadame De Guercheville. It 
is pretty evident he was a bold, bad man, as the more his character is scanned 
the less there appears in it to admire. 

Brother Du Thet, standing with smoking match beside his gun, was wor- 
thy the same pencil that has illustrated the defense of Saragossa. I marvel 
much the event has not been celebrated in verse. 

An enjoyable way of becoming acquainted with Somes's Sound is to take a 
wherry at Somesville and drift slowly down with the ebb, returning with the 
next flood. In some respects it is better than to be under sail, as a landing- 
is always easily made, and defiance may be bidden to head winds. 

One of the precipices of Dog Mountain, known as Eagle Cliif, has always 
attracted the attention of the artists, as well as of all lovers of the beautiful 
and sublime. There has been much search for treasure in the glens here- 
abouts, directed by spiritualistic conclaves. One too credulous islander, in 
his fruitless delving after the pirate Kidd's buried hoard, has squandered the 
gold 6f his own life, and is worn to a shadow. 

When some one asked Moll Pitcher, the celebrated fortune-teller of Lynn, 
to disclose tlie place where this same Kidd had secreted his wealth, promis- 
ing to give her half of what was recovered, tlie old witch exclaimed, "Fool ! 
if I knew, could I not have all myself?" Kidd's wealth must have been be- 
yond computation. Tliere is scarcely a headland or an island from Monlauk 
to Grand Menan which according to local tradition does not contain some 
portion of his spoil. 

Much interest is attached to the shell heaps found on Fernald's Point and 



MOUNT DESERT ISLAND. 



37 










1 ihlrtHiiin i/~* r 



at Sand Point opposite. Tlieie 
are also such banks at HiiU\ 
Cove and elsewhere. Indian 
implements are occasionally 
met with in these deposits. It is 
reasonably certain that some of 
them are of remote antiquit}. 
Williamson states that a hea\ \ 
growth of trees was found by 
the first settlers upon some ot 
the shell banks in this vicni- 
ity.' Associated with these 
relics of aboriginal occupation 
is the print in the rock ne.ii 
CromwelTs Cove, called the 
"Indian's Foot." It is in ap- 
pearance the impression of <i 
tolerably shaped foot, fourte"n 
inches long and two deep. The 
common people are not yet 
freed from the superstitions 
of two centuries ago, which 
ascribed all such accidental 
marks to the Evil One. 

In my progress by the 
road to South - west Harbor, 
I was intercepted near Dog- 
Mountain by a sea -turn that soon became a steady drizzle. This afford- 
ed me an opportunity of seeing some fine dissolving views: the sea-mists 
advancing, and enveloping the mountain-tops, cheated the imagination with 
the idea that the mountains were themselves receding, A storm-cloud, black 
and threatening, drifted over Sargent's Mountain, settling bodily down upon 
it, deploying and extending itself until the entire bulk disappeared behind an 
impenetrable curtain. It was like the stealthy approacli and quick cast of a 
mantle over the liead of an unsuspecting victim. 

Very few were abroad in the storm, but I saw a nut-cracker and chickadee 
making the best of it. I remarked that under branching spruces or fir-trees 
the grass was still green, and the leaves of the checker-berry bright and glossy 
as in September. On this road admirable points of observation constantly 
occur from which to view the shifting contours of Beech and Western mount- 
ains, with the broad and level plateau extending along their northern base- 




CLIFFS, DOG MOUNTAIN, SOMES'S SOUND. 



' "History of Maine," vol. i., p. 80. 



38 



THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 



line far to the westward. Retracing with the eye this line, you see a little 
hamlet snugly ensconced on the hither slope of Beech Mountain, while the 
plateau is rounded off into the bluffs rising above Echo Lake. 

South-west Harbor is usually the stranger's first introduction to Mount 
Desert. The approach to it is consequently invested with peculiar interest 
to all who know how to value first impressions. Its neighborhood is less 
wild and picturesque than the eastern shores of the island, but Long Lake 
and the western range of mountains are conveniently accessible from it ; 
Aviiile, by crossing or ascending the Sound, avenues are opened in every di- 
rection to the surpassing charms of this favored corner of New England. 

At South-west Harbor the visitor is usually desirous of inspecting the 
sea-wall, or cheval-de-frise of shattered rock, that skirts the shore less than 
three miles distant from the steamboat landing. And he may here witness 




THE STONE WALL. 



an impressive example of what the ocean can do. An irregular ridge of a 
mile in length is piled with shapeless rocks, against which the sea beats with 
tireless impetuosity. 

Fog is the bane of Mount Desert. Its frequency during the months of 
July and August is an important factor in the sum of outdoor enjoyment. 
Happily, it is seldom of long continuance, as genial sunshine or light breezes 
soon disperse it. 

There is, however, a weird sort of fascination in standing on the shore in a 
fog. You are completely deceived as to the nearness either of objects or of 
sounds, though the roll of the surf is more depended upon by experienced 
ears than the fog-bell. In sailing near the land every one has noticed the 
recoil of sounds from the shore, as voices, or the beat of a steamer's paddles. 
Coming through the Mussel Ridge Chaimel one unusually thick morning, the 
fog suddenly " scaled up," discovering White Head in uncomfortable proxim- 
ity. The light-bouse keeper stood in his door, tolling the heavy fog-bell that 



MOUNT DESERT ISLAND. 



39 




ENTRANCE TO SOMES'S SOUND. 



A\e had believed half a mile away. 

Our pilot gave hitii thanks with three 

Llabts of the steam-whistle. 

Off the entrance to the Sound are 

several islands — Great Cranberry, of 
five hundred acres; Little Cranberry, of two hundred acres; and, farther in- 
shore, Lancaster's Island, of one hundred acres. The eastern channel into the 
Sound is between the two last named. Duck Island, of about fifty acres, is 
east of Great Cranberry ; and Baker's, on which is the light-house, is the out- 
ermost of the cluster. 

The cranberry is indigenous to the whole extent of the Maine sea-board. 
It grows to perfection on the borders of wet meadows, but I have known it 
to thrive on the upland. The culture has been found very remunerative in 
localities less favored by nature, as at Cape Cod and on the New Jersey 
coast. Some attempts at cranberry culture have recently been made with 
good success at Lemoine, on the main-land, opposite Mount Desert. Blue- 
berries are abundant on Mount Desert. I saw one young girl who had 
picked enough in a week to bring her seven dollars. Formerly they were 
sent off the island, but they are now in good demand at the hotels and 
boarding-houses. In poorer families the head of it picks up a little monev 
by shore-fishing. He plants a little patch with potatoes, dressing the land 
with sea-weed, which costs him only the labor of gathering it. His fire-wood 
is as cheaply procured from the neighboring forest or shore, and in the au- 
tumn his wife and children gather berries, which are exchanged for necessa- 
ries at the stores. 

At the extreme southerly end of Mount Desert is Bass Harbor, with three 
islands outlying. It is landlocked, and a well-known haven of refuge. 



■X^^^ 



6^&=<r^- 




PKOFESSOK AGASSIZ. 



CHAPTER III. 



CHRISTMAS OX MOUNT DESERT. 

"You should have seen that long hill-range, 

With gaps of brightness riven — 

How through each pass and hollow streamed 

The purpling light of heaven — "' 

Whittier. 

TTAVING broken the ice a little with the reader, I shall suppose him pres- 
<-■--*- ent on the most glorious Christmas morning a New England sun ever 
shone upon. "A green Chi-istmas makes a fat church-j'ard," says an Old- 
country proverb; this Avas a white JVoiil, cloudless and bright. I saw that 
the peruke of my neighbor across the Sound, Sargent's Mountain, had been 
freshly powdered during* the nipht ; that the rigging of the ice-bound craft 



CHRISTMAS ON MOUNT DESERT. 41 

liarboved between us was incased in solid ice, reflecting the sunbeams like 
burnished steel. The inscription on mine host's sign-board was blotted out 
by the driving sleet; the brown and leafless trees stood transfigured into ob- 
jects of wondrous beauty. I heard the jingle of bells in the stable-yard and 
the stamping of feet below stairs, and then 

" I heard nae raair, for Chanticleer 
Shook off the pouthery snaw, 
And hail'd the morning with a clieer, 
A cottage-rousing craw." 

The roads from Bar Harbor and from North-east Harbor unite within a 
short distance of Soniesville, and enter the village together. Within these 
highways is embraced a large proportion of those picturesque features for 
which the island is famed. In this area are the highest mountains, the bold- 
est headlands, the deepest indentations of the shores. It is not for nothing, 
therefore, that Bar Harbor has become a favorite rendezvous of the throngs 

"That seek the crowd they seem to fly." 

On Christinas -day the road to Bar Harbor was an avenue of a winter 
palace more sumptuous than that by the Neva. Every spray of the dark 
evergreen trees was heavily laden with a light snow that plentifully besprin- 
kled us in passing beneath the often overreaching branches. The stillness 
was unbroken. Blasted trees — gaunt, withered, and hung with moss like 
rags on the shrunken limbs of a mendicant — were now incrusted with ice- 
crystals, that glittered like lustres on gigantic candelabra. On the top of 
some rounded hill there sometimes was standing the bare stem of a blasted 
pine, where it shone like the spike on a grenadier's helmet. It was a scene 
of enchantment. 

I saw frequent tracks where the deer had come down the mountain and 
crossed the road, sometimes singly, sometimes in pairs, and in search, no 
doubt, of water. The foot-prints of foxes, rabbits, and grouse were also com- 
mon. During the day I met an islander who told me he had shot a fat buck 
only a day or two before, and that many deer were still haunting the mount- 
ains. Formerly, but so long ago that only tradition preserves th6 fact, there 
Avere black bear and moose ; and traces of beaver are yet to be seen in their 
dam's and houses. Red foxes and mink, and occasionally the black fox, great- 
ly valued for its fur, are taken by the hunters. In order to make the roads 
interesting to nocturnal travelers, rumor was talking of a panther and a wolf 
that had been seen within a short time. 

In the day when these coasts were stocked with beaver, its skin was the 
common currency of the country, as well of the Indians as of the whites. It 
was greatly prized in Europe, and constituted the wealth of the savages of 
northern New England, who were wholly unacquainted with wampum until 



42 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 

it wfis introduced among them by the Plymouth trading-posts on the Penob- 
scot and Kennebec. 

The wigwam of a rich chief would be lined with beaver-skins, and, if he 
were very rich, his guests were seated on packs of it. Then, as now, a suitor 
was not the less acceptable if he came to his mistress with plenty of beaver. 
It was the Indians' practice to kill only two-thirds of the beaver each season, 
leaving a third for increase. The English hunters killed all they found, rap- 
idly exterminating an animal which the Indian believed to be possessed of 
preternatural sagacity. 

Our road, after crossing a northern spur of Sargent's Mountain, which lifts 
itself more than a thousand feet above the sea, led on over a succession of 
hills. Beyond Sargent's, Green Mountain stood unveiled, with what seemed 
the tiniest of cottages perched on its summit. Ere long Eagle Lake lay out- 
stretched at the right, but it was in the trance of winter. The painter, 
Church, whose favorite ground lay about due south, christened the lake, 
doubtless with a palraful of water from its own baptismal font. The road- 
way is thrown across its outlet where the timbers of an old mill, that some 
time ago had gorged itself with the native forest, lay rotting and overthrown. 

Green Mountain overpeers all the others. On its summit you are fifteen 
hundred and thirty-five feet higher than the sea. On this account it was se- 
lected as a landmark for the survey of the neighboring coasts. It is not dif- 
ficult of ascent, as the mountain road built by the surveyors is considered 
practicable for carriages nearly or quite to the top. I had anticipated as- 
cending it, but the new-fiillen snow rendered walking difticult, and I was 
forced to content myself with viewing it from all sides of approach. 

An acquaintance with the sierras of either half of the continent exercises a 
restraining influence in presence of an upheaval comparatively slight, yet it is 
only in a few favored instances that one may stand on the summits of very 
high mountains and look down upon the sea. New England, indeed, boasts 
greater elevations at some distance from her sea -coast, among which the 
Mount Desert peaks would appear dwarfed into respectable hills. On a clear 
day, and under conditions peculiarly favorable, a distant glimpse of Katah- 
din and of Mount Washington may be had from the crest of Green Mount- 
ain. In summer the little house is open for the refreshment of weary but ad- 
venturous pilgrims. 

Here I would observe that the island nomenclature is painfully at variance 
with whatever is suggestive of felicitous rapport with its natural character- 
istics. The name of Mount Desert, it is true, is singularly appropriate; but 
then it was given by a Frenchman with an eye for truth in picturesqueness. 
In the year 1796, when the north half of the island was formed into a town- 
ship, it was called, with sublimated irony, Eden. Green Mountain is not more 
green than its neighbors. At the Ovens I saw plenty of yeast, but not enough 
to leaven the name. Schooner Head is not more apposite. 



CHRISTMAS ON MOUNT DESERT. 



43 





VIEW OF EAGLE LAKE AND THE SEA FKOM GREEN MOUNTAIN^. 

Just before coming into Bar Harbor there is an excellent opportunity of 
observing the cluster of islands to which it owes existence. These are the 
Porcupine group, and beyond, across a b^oad bay, the Gouldsborougli hills 
appeared in a Christmas garb of silvery whiteness. The Porcupine Islands, 
four in number, lie within easy reach of the shore. Bar Island, the nearest, be- 
ing connected with the main-land at low ebb. On Bald Porcupine General 
Fremont has pitched his head-quarters. It was the sea tliat was fretful when 
I looked at the islands, though they bristled with erected pines and cedars. 

The village at Bar Harbor is the sudden outgrowth of the necessities- of a 
population that comes with the roses, and vanishes witli the first frosts of au- 
tumn. It has neither form nor comeliness, though it is admirably situated 
for excursions to points on the eastern and southern shores of the island as 
far as Great Head and Otter Creek. A new hotel was building, notwitlistand- 
ing the last season had not proved as remunerative as usual. I saw that pure 
water was brought to the harbor by a wooden aqueduct that crossed the val- 
ley on trestles, after the manner practiced in the California mining regions, 
and there called a flume. There is a beach, with good bathing on both sides 
of the landing, though the low temperature of the water in summer is hardly 
calculated for invalids. 

From Bar Harbor, a road conducts by the shore, southerly, as far as Great 
Head, some five miles distant. After following this route for a long mile, 



44 



THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 




CLIFFS ON BALD POUCUPINE. 



as it seemed, it divides, the road to the right leading on five miles to Ottei* 
Creek, and thence to North-east Harbor, seven miles beyond. Excursions to 
Great Head, and to Newport Mountain and Otter Creek, should occupy sepa- 
rate days, as the shores are extremely interesting, and the scenery unsurpass- 
ed in the whole range of the island. 

In pursuing his explorations at or near low-water mark, it will be best for 



CHRISTMAS ON MOUNT DESERT. 



45 



the tourist to begin a ramble an Lour before the tide has fully ebbed. The 
tides on this coast ordinarily rise and fall about twelve feet, and in winter, as 
I saw, frequently eighteen feet. Hence the advance and retreat of the waves 
is not only rapid, but leaves a broader margin uncovered than in Massachu- 
setts Bay, where there is commonly not more than eight feet of rise and fall. 
In many places along the arc of the shore stretching between Bar Harbor 
and Great Head, the ascent to higher ground is, to say the least, difficult, and, 
in some instances, progress is forbidden by a beetling cliff or impassable 
chasm. As time is seldom carefully noted when one is fairly engaged in 
such investigations, it is always prudent first to know your ground, and next 
to keep a wary eye upon the stealthy approach of the sea. 




SOL'THERLY END OF NEWPORT MOUNTAIN, NEAR THE SAND BEACH. 

There is a pleasant ramble by the shore to Cromwell's Cove ; but here on- 
ward movement is arrested by a cliff that turns you homeward by a cross- 
path through the fields to the road, after having whetted the appetite for 
Avhat is yet in reserve. 

Schooner Head is reached by this road in about four miles from Bar Har» 
bor, and three from the junction of the Otter Creek road. I walked it easily 
in an hour. The way is walled in on the landward side by the abrupt preci- 
pices of Newport Mountain, in the sheer face of which stunted firs are niched 
here and there. Very much they soften the hard, unyielding lines and cold 



46 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 

gi-ay of llie crags; the eye lingers kindly on their green chaplets cast about 
the frowning brows of wintry mountains. Tliis morning all were Cliristmas- 
trees, and the ancients of the isle hung out their banners to greet tJie day. 

Emerging from the woods at a farm-house at the head of a cove, a foot- 
path leads to the i:»romontory at its hither side. It is thrust a little out from 
the land, sheltering the cove while itself receiving the full onset of the sea. 
An intrusion of white rock in the seaward face is supposed by those of an im- 
aginative turn to bear some resemblance to a schooner; and, in order to com- 
plete the similitude, two flag-staffs had been erected on the top of the clift'. 
At best, I fancy it will be found a phantom ship to lure the mariner to de- 
struction. 

I did not find Schooner Head so remarkable for its height as in the evi- 
dences everywhere of the crushing blows it has received while battling with 
storms. " Hard pounding this, gentlemen ; but we shall see who can pound 
longest," said the Iron Duke at Waterloo. Here are the rents and ruins of 
ceaseless assault and repulse. The ocean is slowly but steadily advancing 
on both sides of the continent; perchance it is, after all, susceptible of calcula- 
tion how long the land shall endure. 

I clambered among the huge blocks of granite that nothing less than 
steam could now have stirred, although they had once been displaced by a 
few drops of water acting together. A terrible rent in the east side of the 
cliff" is locally known as the Spouting Horn. Down at its base the sea has 
worn through the rock, leaving a low arch. At the flood, with sufficient sea 
on, and an off'-shore wind, a wave rolls in through the cavity, mounts the 
escarpment, and leaps high above the opening with a roar like the booming 
of heavy ordnance. These natural curiosities are not unfrequent along the 




CAVE OF THE SEA, SCHOONER HEAD. 



CHRISTMAS ON MOUNT DESERT. 



4Y 



coast. There is one of considerable 
power at Cape Arundel, Maine, that 
I have heard when two miles from 
the spot. Unfortunately for the tour- 
ist, these grand displays are usual- 
ly in storms, when few care to be 
abroad; undoubtedly, the outward 
man may be protected and the in- 
ward exalted at such times. Some 
of the more adventurous go through 
the Horn : I went around it. 

1 saw here a few ruminant sheep 
gazing off upon the sea. What should 
a sheep see in the ocean? 

On the farther side of the cove is 
a sea-cavern that has the reputation 
of being tlie finest on the island. 
Within its gloomy recesses are rock 
pools of rare interest to the natural- 
ist. In proper season they will be 
found inhabited by the sea-anemone 
and other and more debatable forms 
of animal life. Some of these aquaria 
I have seen are of marvelous beauty, 
recalling the lines, 

".Full many a gem of purest ray serene 
The dark unfathonied caves of ocean bear." 

Lined with mother-of-pearl and scar- 
let mussels, resting on beds of soft 
sponge or purple moss -tufts, these 
fairy grottoes are the favorite retreat 
of King Crab and his myrmidons, of 
the star-fish and sea-urchin. Twice 
in every twenty-four hours the basins 
are refilled with pure sea-water, than 
Avhich nothing can be more trani^pai*- 
ent. Strange that these rugged crags, 
where the grasp of man would be loos- 
ened by the first wave, should be in- 
stinct with life ! It required some 
force to detach a mussel from its bed, 
and you must have recourse to your knife to remove the barnacles with 




CLIFFS AT SCHOONER HEAD. 



48 



THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 




devil's den and schooner head. 

which tlie smoother rocks are incriisted. John Adams, when lie first saw the 
sea-anemone, compared it, in fioiire and feeling, to a young girl's breast. 

Mount Desert has been familiar to two of the greatest of American natu- 
ralists. When Audubon was preparing his magnificent "Birds of America," 
he visited the island^ and I have no doubt the report of his rifie was often 
heard echoing among the mountains or along the shores. Agassiz was also 
here, interrogating the rocks, rapping their stony knuckles with his hammer, 
or pressing their gaunt ribs with playful familiarity. Audubon died in 1851. 
Agassiz is more freshly i-emembered by the present generation, to whom he 
made the pathway of Natural Science bright by his genius, and pleasant, by 
his genuine, whole-hearted bonhoniie. 

In 1858 the French Government devoted itself, with extreme solicitude, to 
the reorganization of the administration of the Museum of Natural History 
of the Jardin des Plantes at Paris. It appears that, in spite of a first i-efusal, 
several times repeated, Agassiz at length consented to accept the direction of 
the museum. The Emperor, who had formed a personal acquaintance with 
the celebrated naturalist during his sojourn in Switzerland, pursued with cus- 
tomary pertinacity his fxvorite idea of alluring M. Agassiz to Paris. He was 
offered a salary of twenty-five thousand francs ; and it was understood he 
was promised, besides, elevation to the dignity of senator, of which the ajj- 
pointments were worth twenty-five thousand francs more. 



CHRISTMAS ON MOUNT DESERT. 49 

I have thought it fitting to give Agassiz's own report of his first introduc- 
tion to an American public : 

"When I came to Boston," said he, " tlie first coui-se which I gave had 
five thousand auditors, and I was obliged to divide them into two sections of 
twenty-five hundred each, and to repeat each lesson. Tiiis course was given 
in the large hall of the Tremont Temple." 

"Do you think," he was asked, " that in such a crowd it was the fashion 
or the desire for instruction which dominated ?" 

" No doubt," he replied, " it was a serious desire for instruction. I have 
plenty of proofs of it coining from persons' belonging to the lower classes. 
For instance, it is usual here to accord to persons who go out to service full 
liberty after a certain hour in the evening, solely to go to the course of lec- 
tures; that is made a part of the agreement. A lady who had a very strong 
desire to hear me, told me that it was impossible for her to do so. Her cook 
was the first informed of my announcement, took the initiative, and obtained 
her promise of liberty for the hour of the evening when I taught, and left her 
mistress to take care of the house alone. On her return she explained very 
clearly what I had said." 

The slow sale of Agassiz's works in Europe decided him to pass fifteen 
months in the United States; and the revolution of 1848 changed this inten- 
tion into a purpose of permanent residence. Agassiz was tall, coi-pulent, bent, 
rather by continual study than with age. His forehead was broad, high, and 
a little retreating ; his countenance conspicuously Swiss, by the largeness of 
his features, the gravity and benevolence of his expression. His hair was gray, 
and little abundant. He spoke German and English with facility, but had to 
some extent unlearned his French. Although his conversation was without 
volubility, when he grew animated in talking upon great questions his ex- 
pression became noble and majestic. "There was in him a remarkable force 
of thought and will. He appeared like a man who makes haste slowly; but 
notwithstanding the adage, no one can withhold an involuntary astonishment 
at the great works he has been able to achieve." Agassiz belonged to the 
noblesse of science and of litei-ature. When such men die they can not be 
said to leave legitimate successors. 

Mount Desert has itself produced a man of marked usefulness in David 
Wa^gatt Clark, D.D., a Wesleyan divine, who was elected bishop in 1864. He 
accomplished extensive literary labors, was intrusted with high and responsi- 
ble positions, and although a puny boy, the jest of his companions of a more ro- 
bust mould, completed nearly threescore years of a laborious and eventful life. 

From Schooner Head I pursued my way by the road to Great Head. And 
while €71 rotite I should not forget the Lynam Homestead, to which Cole, 
Church, Gilford, Hart, Parsons, Warren, Bierstadt, and others renowned in 
American art have from time to time resorted to enrich their studios from 
the abounding wealth of the neighborhood. 

4. 



50 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 

One of the first artists to come to the island was Fisher. Cliurch, whose 
name is associated with its rediscovery, did not always come for-^Vvork. On 
one occasion, as leader of a merry party, he was lost on Beech Mountain, and 
passed the night there. With rare prevision he had provided an axe, with 
plenty of robes and wraps. At the foot of the mountain the carriage Avas 
sent back to the village. Church was too good a woodman not to use his 
axe to make a shanty of boughs, while the robes, when spread upon fragrant 
heaps of spruce, made excellent couches for the laughing girls that were un- 
der his protection. Meanwhile consternation reigned at Somesville. Messen- 
gers were sent hither and thither in haste ; but no tidings an-ived of the ab- 
sent ones until the next morning, when they entered the village as if nothing 
unusual had happened. 

Great Head is easily found. The road we have been pursuing comes to 
an abrupt ending at a house within a short half mile of it. Follow the shore 
backward toward Schooner Head, and you will stand in presence of the bold- 
est headland in all New England. I saw that no foot-print but my own had 
lately j^assed that way. There was something in thus having it all to one's 
self 

To appreciate Great Head one must stand underneath it; but the descent, 
always difficult, was rendered perilous by the newly-formed ice. By dint of 
perseverance I at last stood upon the ledge beneath, that extends out like a 
l^latform for some distance toward deep water. It was the right stage of the 
tide. I looked up at the face of the cliff. It was bearded with icicles, like 
the Genius of Winter. Along the upper edge appeared the interlacing roots 
of old trees grasping the scanty soil like monster talons. Stunted birches, 
bent by storms, skirted its brow, and at sea add to its height. From top to 
bottom the face of the cliff is a mass of hard granite, overlianging its founda- 
tions in impending ruin, shivered and splintered as if torn by some tremen- 
dous explosion. I could only think of the last sketch of Delaroche. 

The sea rolls in great waves that overwhelm every thing within their 
reach. More than once I started back at the approach of one of them. Just 
outside the first line of breakers rode a flock of wild fowl, and occasionally 
the mournful cry of a loon, or shriller scream of a sea-gull, mingled with the 
roar of the surf. Farther out, at the distance of a mile, a wicked-looking rock 
and ledge was flinging off the seas, flecking its tawny flanks with foam, like a 
war-horse impatiently champing at his bit. 

Looking off from Great Head to the eastward, the main-land is perceived 
trending away until it loses itself in the ocean. At the extremity of this land 
is Schoodic Point and Mountain, with Mosquito Harbor indenting it The 
water between is not the true " Baye Fran^oise" of Champlain, Lescarbot, 
and others. The appellation belongs of right to the Bay of Fundy, perpetu- 
ating as it does the misadventure of Nicolas Aubri, one of the company of De 
Monts, who was lost in the woods there. As this is not the only historic an- 








<iKEAT UEAD. 



CHRISTMAS ON MOUNT DESERT. 53 

achronism by many that may be met with on our coasts, I do not propose to 
quarrel with it, tlie less tliat a Frenchman was the first white here. The name 
has been current for about a century, thougli on old French maps it is found 
to lie farther east. 

The north wind was beating down yesterday's sea, sweeping over the bil- 
lows, and whirling their crests far away to leeward. Along the rocks the 
foam lay like wool-fleeces, or was whisked about, dabbling the grim face of 
the cliff with creamy spots. Other headlands were mailed in ice. 

Moiint Desert Rock is about twenty miles south-south-east of the island, 
and from fourteen to eighteen from the nearest land. It has a light-house, 
built upon naked, shapeless ledges. There is another on Baker's Island, off 
the entrance to Somes's Sound. 

Natural sea-marks, like Great Head Cliff, are preferred by mariners to 
artificial buoys or beacons. No one that has seen them will be likely to for- 
get the Pan of Matanzas, or the Cabanas of Havana. Before the excellent 
system inaugurated by the United States Coast Survey, trees, standing singly 
or in groups, often gave direction how to steer on a dangerous coast. Some- 
times they were lopped on one side, or made to take some peculiarity of shape 
that would distinguish them from all others. Thus some solitary old cedar 
becomes a guide-board known to all who travel on ocean highways. 

The next point of interest will be found at Otter Creek, which may be 
reached in good weather by sailing, by the direct road from Bar Harbor, al- 
ready mentioned, or by crossing the lower ridge of Newport Mountain from 
Great Head. 

After a last look at the sea, which was of a dingy green, and broke angri- 
ly as far as the eye could reach in the offing, I entered the trail that was to 
bring me to Otter Creek. 

Newport's southern peak was just overhead, its sharp protuberances made 
smooth by knobs of ice that resembled the bosses of a target. There reached 
me occasional rapid glimpses of the sea in ascending, but I walked chiefly 
in a dense growth that excluded all light, except when the glint of the suu 
through the tree-tops fell in golden bars across my yvay. Prostrate and use- 
lessly rotting was wood enough to have kept a good-sized village through 
the winter. The air was light and elastic. I do not think a pleasanter ram- 
ble is to be had on the island than this forest-walk. 

"O'er windy hill, through clogged ravine, 
And woodland paths that wound between 
Low drooping pine-boughs winter-weighed." 

At Otter Creek is a scattered settlement and an inlet of the sea, into 
which the creek empties. The island traditions say the place was once the 
favorite reti'eat of the otter. There are cliffs to admire or study on the sea- 
shore, and Thunder Cave is there to explore. 



54 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 

Ill this i30cket-edition of Somes's Sound we find ourselves once more under 
the shadow of Green Mountain, and upon looking back up the valley a pass 
opens between it and Newport, through which the road finds its way to Bar 
Harbor. 

The dwellings here, as elsewhere on the island, are humble, and bespeak, 
in many instances, a near approach to poverty. In the larger villages thei-e 
are comfortable and even substantial residences, but the impression of un- 
thrift is associated with the proper population. The reasons are obvious. 
The first inhabitants got their livelihood by fishing, and formerly many ves- 
sels were fitted out from the Sound. Perhaps not a few went for the Govern- 
ment bounty. With the failure of this industry little was left on which to 
depend. A scanty subsistence at most could be Avrung from the soil, though 
Williamson, the historian of Maine, avers this was once strong and fertile in 
the valleys. The land, by the removal of crops without restoring the ele- 
ments essential to it, has been growing poorer year by year. A little hay is 
cut on the uplands, and at Prettj' Marsh are some hundreds of acres of salt 
meadow. The mountains have been stripped of their wood to the last mer- 
chantable tree. At this unpromising juncture the island became suddenly 
famous, and is now among the most frequented of American summer resorts. 
None could be more astonished at their own prosperity than these islanders, 
who, being, as a whole and in a marked degree, incapable of appreciating the 
grandeur of the scenes with which they have from infancy been familiar, look 
with scarce concealed disdain upon the admiration they ins])ire in others. 

Some handsome cottages have already sprung out of the prevailing ugli- 
ness at Bar Harbor. At Great Head a tract of considerable extent h 5 been 
inclosed. The star of Mount Desert is clearly in the ascendant, as, however 
prudent the city man may be at home, all purse-strings are loosened at the 
sea-side. The French proverb, '■'■II faut faire ou se taire^'' is usually con- 
strued into the modern barbaric " play or pay" at the shore. Not one of these 
worthy landlords was ever known to fall, like Vatel, on his own sword be- 
cause there was not enough roast meat.. Nevertheless, at the risk of for- 
feiting the reader's good opinion, I will say that there are landlords with 
consciences, and I have both seen and spoken with such on Mount Desert. 

Another of my excursions, which aff'orded new entertainment with new 
scenes, was a pedestrian jaunt from Otter Creek to North-east Harbor. This 
route commands fine ocean views in the direction of the entrance to the 
Sound and of the outlying islands. You first open Seal Cove, and, crossing 
the shingle road at its head, in two miles and a half of farther progress skirt- 
ing the eastern shore of the Sound, arrive at the head of North-east Harbor, 
an inconsiderable village, in which Williamson conjectures La Saussaye final- 
ly landed. 

Seven miles more along the eastern base of Brown's Mountain, in the 
sombre shadows of which the road nestles, brings us back to the tavern door 



CHRISTMAS ON MOUNT DESERT. 



55 



at Somesville. Tliis road 
crosses a limb of Pladlock's 
Pond, and is skirted for 
some distance by a fine 
grove of beeches. In sum- 
mer-time this part of the 
route is traversed under 
a canopy of overarching 
branches, whose dense fo- 
liage excludes all but a 
few straggling rays that 
let fall a shimmer of de- 
licious sunlight, for the 
moment glorifying all that 
pass beneath. 

It may chance that the 
visitor will first pass over 
the section already tra^- 
ersed in these pages ; or it 
may so fall out that he will 
decide to undertake a run 
b]- the shore north of Bar 
Harbor in advance of oth- 
er excursions. In this case 
Sauh'.iury's Cove and the 
"Ovens" become his ob- 
jective. 

I have already fore- 
warned the reader that it 
is six or seven miles from 
any initial point to any 
other given point on Mount 
Desert Island. This equal- 
ity of distance sometimes 
makes a choice embarrass- 
ing, since in selecting from 
two routes the preference 
is usually given to the 
shorter. But it will some- 
times happen that he will 
find these longer than stat- 
ute miles, or that when 
pursuing his way with all 




THE" OVENS, aALLSUUKY S <JUVE. 



5g THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 

imaginable confidence, it is suddenly blocked by a mountain or a precipice. 
These contingencies make walking preferable. A horse is no doubt a very 
useful animal where there are roads. 

It is practicable at low tide to reach the Ovens by the beach, but as this 
involves many difficulties, it is better to take the road beyond Hull's Cove, 
two miles from Bar Haibor. The cove is said to have been named for a 
brother of General William Hull. It was resorted to quite early in the set- 
tlement of the island. Here was the dwelling - place of the Gregoires, to 
wdiora Massachusetts ceded the whole island upon proof, exhibited in 1787, 
that Madame Gregoire was the lineal descendant of Cadillac, who claimed 
under his orant from Louis XIV. in 1688.' The meditative reader may 
ponder upon this resumption under a French title as an evidence that time 
at last makes all things even. It would not seem inappropriate, inasmuch as 
two women have had so prominent a share in the history of Mount Desert, 
to perpetuate the names of Guercheville and Gregoire, The graves of the 
Greo-oires may be seen near the north-east corner of the burial -gi'ound. 
Monsieur is asserted to have been a bon-vivant. 

The Ovens are caverns hollowed out by the waves in the softer masses 
of the cliffs. When the tide is completely down a pebbly beach shelves away 
to low-water mark. The feldspar and porphyry of which the rocks are com- 
posed impart a cheerfulness to the walls of these grottoes more pleasing after 
descending into the gloomy recesses of the south shore. Near the Ovens is 
a passage driven through a projecting cliff, known as Via Mala. 

In passing, the reader will give me leave to mention another woman whose 
influence was felt in the af!:airs of Acadia. It was Henrietta, Duchesse d'Or- 
leans, and aunt of Louis XIV., who obtained the relinquishment of Acadia by 
her husband, Charles I. of unfortunate memory, under the peace of 1632. The 
fate of the widowed queen is involved in one of the most repulsive chapters 
of history. According to contemporary accounts, she fell a victim to the 
reign of the poisoners in the time of Louis. By the testimony of the Marquis 
Dangeau and other amialists of the times, the poison had been sent by the 
Chevalier De Lorraine, her lover, then in England. 

The reader may now complete the circuit of the island at leisure. In tak- 
ing leave of these hills, I would observe that although not every one is pos- 
sessed of a knowledge of woodcraft, or of the muscles of a mountaineer, it is 
far better to depart the beaten paths and to seek out new conquests. For my 
own part, I may safely guarantee that in finding himself for the fi;rst time on 
Mount Desert, the visitor will be as thoroughly surprised as impressed in the 
presence of natural scenes so pronounced in character, and so unique in their 
relation to and environment by the sea. 



' See Williamson, vol. i., p. 79; "Resolves of Msissachusetts," July and November, 1787; 
"New York Colonial Documents," vol. ix., p. 591. Mr. De Costa has given a summary of these 
in his pleasant little book. 



CHRISTMAS ON MOUNT DESERT. 



57 



In my way to and from this remote corner of New England, it was my 
fortune to encounter a single instance of that inquisitorial propensity known 
the world over as Yankee cui'iosity. On arriving at a late hour at Ellsworth, 
the landlord, a great burly fellow, drew a chair close to mine, pushed iiis hat 
back from his brows — every body here wears his hat in the house — spat in 
the grate, smote his knees with his big palms, and said, 

" Look a here, mister ! I know 'tan't none o' my business ; but what might 
you be agoin' to Mount Desart arter?" And in the same breath, "I'm from 
Mount Desart." 

"Certes," thought I, " if it's none of your business, why do you ask?" 

The same publican afterward let a fellow- wayfarer and myself a sick 
horse that proved unfit to travel when we were well upon our journey. I 
forgave him all but the making me the unwilling instrument of his cruelty to 
a dumb beast. 



(^TNJT^-^JZ.On 





V 



CASTINE, APPROACUIXG FROM ISLESBOKO. 



CHAPTER lY. 

CASTINE. 

"A wind came up out of the sea, 
And said, 'O mists, make room for me.'" 

Longfellow. 

WHOEVER has turned over the pages of early New England history can 
not fail to have had his curiosity piqued by the relations of old French 
writers respecting this extreme outpost of French empire in America. The 
traditions of the existence of an ancient and populous city, going far beyond 
any English attempt in this corner of the continent, are of themselves suf- 
ficient to excite the ardent pursuit of an antiquary, and to set all the busy 
hives of historical searchers in a buzz of excitement. 

That scoiFer, Lescarbot, would dispose of the ancient city of Xorumbega 
as Voltaire would have disposed of the Christian religion — with a sarcasm ; 
but, if there be truth in the apothegm that "seeing is believiirg," the fore- 
runners of Champlain came, saw, and made a note of it. " Now," says the ad- 
vocate, "if that beautiful city was ever in nature, I should like to know who 
demolished it ; for there are only a few cabins here and there, made of poles 
and covered with the bark of trees or skins ; and both habitation and river 
are called Pemptegoet, and not Agguncia.'" 

I approached the famed river in a dense fog, in which the steamer cautious- 
ly threaded her way. Earth, sky, and water were equally indistinguishable. 
A volume of pent steam gushing from the pipes hoarsely trumpeted our ap- 
proach, and then streamed in a snow-white plume over the taffrail, and was 
lost in the surrounding obscurity. The decks were wet with the damps of 

^ Lescarbot, vol. ii., p. 47L 



CASTINE. 59 

the morning; the few passengers stirring seemed lifeless and unsocial. Here 
and there, as we floated in tlie midst of this cloud, the paddles impatiently 
beating the water, were visible the topmasts of vessels at anchor, though in 
the dimness they seemed wonderfully like the protruding spars of so many 
sunken craft. Hails or voices from them sounded preternaturally loud and 
distinct, as also did the noise of oars in fog-bewildered boats. The blast of a 
fog-horn near or' far occasionally sounded a hoarse refrain to the warning that 
issued from the brazen throat of the Titan chained in our galley. 

At this instant the sun emerging from his dip into the sea, glowing with 
power, put the mists to flight. First they parted on each side of a broad 
pathway in which sky and water re-appeared. Then, before brighter gleams, 
they overthrew and trampled upon each other in disorderly rout. A few 
scattered remnants drifted into upper air and vanished; other masses clung 
to the shores as if inclined still to dispute the field. Owl's Head light-house 
came out at the call of the enchanter, blinking its drowsy eyes; then sunlit 
steeples and lofty spars glanced up and out of the fog-cloud that enveloped 
the city of Rockland. 

The vicinity of a town had been announced by cock-crowing, the rattling 
of wheels, or occasional sound of a bell from some church-tower; but all these 
sounds seemed to heighten the illusions produced by the fog, and to endow 
its impalpable mass with ghostly life. Vessels under sail appeared weird and 
spectral — phantom ships, that came into view for a moment and dissolved an 
instant after — masts, shrouds, and canvas melting away — 

"As clouds with clouds embrace." 

Rockland is a busy and enterprising place in the inchoate condition of 
comparative newness, and of the hurry that postpones all improvements not 
of immediate utility. Until 1848 it had no place on the map. Back of the 
settled portion of Rockland is a range of dark green hills, with the easy 
slopes and smooth contours of a limestone region. I know not if Rockland 
will ever be finished, for it is continually disemboweling itself, coining its 
rock foundations, until perchance it may some day be left without a leg to 
stand on. 

Penobscot Bay is magnificent in a clear day. The fastidious De Monts 
surveyed and passed it by. Singularly enough, the French, who searched 
the New England coast from time to time in quest of a milder climate and 
more fertile soil than that of Canada, wei'e at last compelled to abide b}- their 
first discoveries, and inhabit a region sterile and inhospitable by comparison. 
Had it fallen out otherwise, Quebecs and Louisburgs might have bristled 
along her sea-coast, if not have changed her political destiny. 

Maine has her forests, her townships of lime, her granite islands, her seas 
of ice — all, beyond dispute, raw products. Fleets detach themselves from the 
banks of the Penobscot and float every year away. 



60 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 

" One goes abroad for merchandise and trading, 
Another stays to keep his country from invading, 
A third is coming home with rich and wealthy lading. 
Halloo ! my fancie, whither wilt thou go ?" 

The sumptuous structures we erect of her granite are only so man}' mon- 
uments to Maine. I have seen, on the otlier side of the continent, a town 
wholly built of Maine lumber. While Boston was yet smoking, her neighbor 
was getting ready the lumber and granite to rebuild her better than ever. 
So these great rivers become as mere mill-streams in the broader sense, and, 
at need, a telegraphic order for a town or a fleet would be promptly tilled. 

There is no corner, however remote, into which Maine enterprise does not 
penetrate. The spirit of adventure and speculation has pushed its commerce 
everywhere. With a deck-load of lumber, some shingles, or barrels of lime, 
schooners of a few tons burden, and manned with three or four hands, may be 
met with hundreds of nnles. at sea, steering boldly on in search of a buyer. 
An English writer narrates his surprise at seeing in the latitude of Hatteras, 
at the very height of a terrific storm, when the sea, wreathed with foam, was 
rolling before the gale, one of these buoyant little vessels scudding like a spir- 
it through the mingling tempest, with steady sail and dry decks, toward the 
distant Bahamas. 

Rockland was formerly a part of Thomaston,' and is upon ground ancient- 
ly covered by the Muscongus, or Waldo jjatent, which passed through the 
ownership of some personages celebrated in their day. A very brief resume 
of this truly seignorial possession will assist the reader in forming some idea 
of the state of the old colonial magnates. It will also account to him for the 
names of the counties of Knox and Lincoln. 

Pi-ior to the French Revolution there were distinctions in society after- 
ward unknown, the vestiges of colonial relations. Men in office, the wealthy, 
and above all, those who laid claim to good descent, were the gentry in 
the country. Habits of life and personal adornment were outward indica- 
tions of superiority. The Revolution drove the larger number of this class 
into exile, but there still centinued to be, on the patriots' side, well-defined 
ranks of society. There was also a class who held large landed estates, in 
imitation of the great proprietors of England. These persons formed a coun- 
try gentry, and were the great men of their respective counties. They 
held civil and military offices, and were members of the Great and General 
Court. 

The Muscongus patent was granted by the Council of Plymouth, in 1630, 
to John Beauchamp of London, and John Leverett of Boston, England. It 
embraced a tract thirty miles square, extending between the Muscongus and 
Penobscot, being limited on the west and north by the Kennebec patent, 

' Named for General John Thomas, of the Revolution. 



CASTINE. 



61 



mentioned hereafter as granted to our colony of Plymouth. Besides Rock- 
land and Thomaston, the towns of Belfast, Camden, Warren, and Waldoboro 
are within its former bounds. In 1719 the Muscongus grant was divided for 
the purpose of settlement into ten shares, the ten proprietors assigning two- 
thirds of it to twenty as- 



sociates. I have examined 
the stiff black-letter parch- 
ment of 1719, and glanced 
at its pompous formalities. 
At this time there was not 
a house between George- 
town and Annapolis, ex- 
cept on Damariscove Isl- 
and/ 

The Waldo family be- 
came in time the largest 
owners of the patent. 
Samuel Waldo, the brig- 
adier, Avas the intimate 
friend of Sir William Pep- 
perell, with whom he had 
served at Louisburg. They 
were born in the same yeaf, 
and died at nearly the same 
time. Their friendship was 
to have perpetuated itself 
by a match between Han- 
nah, the brigadier's daugh- general henky knox. 
ter, and Andrew, the son of Sir William. After a deal of couilly correspond- 
ence that plainly enough foreshadows the bitter disappointment of the old 
friends, Hannah refused to marry Andrew, the scape-grace. In six weeks she 
gave her hand, a pretty one, 'tis said, to Thomas Flucker, and with it went a 
nice large slice of the patent. Flucker became the last secretary, under 
crown rule, of Massachusetts. He decamped with his friends the royalists, in 
1776, but his daughter, Lucy, remained behind, for she had given her heart to 
Henry Knox, the handsome young book-seller of colonial l^oston, the trusted 
friend whom Washington caressed with tears when parting from his com- 
rades of the deathless little army of '76. 

The old brigadier fell dead of apoplexy at the feet of Governor Pownall, 
while in the act of pointing out to him the boundary of his lands. Mrs. 
Knox, the artillerist's wife, inherited a portion of the Waldo patent, and her 




' Williamson's "History of Maine." 



62 



THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 



husband, after the Revolution, acquired the residue by purchase. Here his 
troubles began ; but I can not enter upon them. He built an elegant mansion 
at Thomaston, which he called Montpelier.' The house has been demolished 
by the demands of the railway, for which one of its outbuildings now serves 
as a station. 

General Knox involved in his personal difficulties his old comrade, General 

Lincoln, though not quite so badly as 
Mr. JeiFerson would make it appear 
in his letter to Mr. Madison, in which 
he says, "He took in General Lin- 
coln for one hundred and fifty thou- 
sand dollars, which breaks him." The 
same writer has also recorded his 
opinion that Knox was a fool; but 
the resentments of Mr. Jefterson are 
known to have outrun his under- 
standing. Through the embarrass- 
ments incurred by his friendship, 
General Lincoln became interested 
in the Waldo patent. 

Lincoln Avas about five feet nine, 
so extremely corpulent as to seem 
much shorter than he really was. He wore his hair unpowdered, combed 
back from his forehead, and gathered in a long cue. He had a full, round 
face, light complexion, and blue eyes. His dress was usually a blue coat, and 
buff small-clothes. An enormous cocked hat, as indispensable to an old of- 
ficer of the Revolution as to the Little Corporal, or as the capital to the Corin- 
thian column, completed his attire. He had been wounded in the leg in the 
battles with Burgoyne, and always wore boots to conceal the deformity, as 
Knox concealed his mutilated hand in a handkerchief. 

This old soldier, Lincoln, who had passed very creditably through the 
Revolution, Avas, like the fat boy in "Pickwick," afflicted with somnolency. 
In the old Hingham church, in conversation at table, and it is affirmed also 
while driving himself in a chaise, he would fall sound asleep. During his 
campaign against Shays and the Massachusetts insurgents of 1786, he snored 
and dictated between sentences. He considered this an infirmity, and his 
friends never ventured to speak to him of it. 

Another charming picture is the a])proach to the Camden Hills. I saw 
their summits peering above fog -drifts, flung like scarfs of gossamer across 
their breasts. Heavier masses sailed along the valleys, presenting a series 
of ever -shifting, ever- dissolving views, dim and mysterious, with transient 




GENERAL BENJAMIN LINCOLN. 



' Jeflersou had his JMonticello, Washington his Mount Vernon. 



CASTINE. 



63 



glimpses of church-spires and white cottages, or of the toj^s of trees curiously 
skirting a fog -bank. Sometimes you caught the warm color of the new- 
mown hill-sides, or the outlines of nearer and greener swells. These hills are 
a noted landmark for seamen, and the last object visible at sea in leaving the 
Penobscot. The highest of the Megunticook peaks rises more than fourteen 
hundred feet, commanding an unsurpassed view of the bay. 

After touching at Camden, the steamer continued her voyage. Tlie ge- 
nial warmth of tlie sun, with tiie beauty of the panorama unrolled before 
them, had brought the passengers to the deck to gaze and admire. I chanced 
on one family group making a lunch off a dry- salted fish and crackers, the 
females eating with good appetites. Near by was a German, breakfasting on 
a hard-boiled egg and a thick slice of black bread. My own compatriots pre- 
ferred the most indigestible of pies and tarts, with pea-nuts d discretion. Rel- 
ics of these repasts were scattered about the decks. Ttie good-humor and 
jollity that had returned with a few rays of sunshine led me to think on the 
depression caused by the long nights of an Arctic winter, as related by Frank- 
lin, Parry, Kane, and Hayes. A greeting to the sun ! May he never cease to 
shine where I walk or lie ! 

Driving her sharp prow onward, the boat soon entered Belfast Bay. Many 
vessels, some of them _ ^ 

were on the stocks ^"=rr 

in the ship -yards of 

Belfast. The Duke 

of tlochefoucauld Li- 

ancourt, during his 

visit in 1797, noticed 

that some houses were 

painted. The town ^""^^ ^^'•■^• 

then contained the only church in the Waldo patent. As might be inferred, 

the name is from Belfast, Ireland !' 

The bay begins to contract above Camden, bringing its shores within the 
meaning of a noble river. Indeed, as far as I ascended it, the Penobscot will 
not lose by comparison with the Hudson. The river is considered to begin 
at Fort Point, the site of Governor Pownall's fort. Above the flow of tide- 
water its volume decreases, for the Penobscot does not drain an extensive 
region like the St. Lawrence, nor has it such a reservoir at its source as the 
Kennebec. At Orphan Island the river divides into two channels, making 




' Its Indian name was Passageewakeag — '" the place of sights, or ghosts." It contained origi- 
nally one thousand acres, which the settlers bought of the heirs of Brigadier Waldo at two siiillings 
the acre. Belfast was the first incorporated town on the Penobscot. It suffered severely in the 
Revolution from the British garrison of Castine. 



64 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 

a narrow pass of extretne beauty and picturesqueness between the island and 
the western shore. Nowhere else, except in the Vineyard Sonnd, have I seen 
such a movement of shipping as here. A fleet of coasters were standing wing 
and wing through the Narrows. Tov/-boats, dragging as many as a dozen 
heavy-laden lumbermen outward-bound, came puffing down the stream. As 
they entered the broad reach near Fort Point, one vessel after another hoist- 
ed sail and dashed down the bay. The Narrows are commanded by Fort 
Knox, opposite Bucksport.' 

In coming out of Belfast we approached Bi-igadier's Island, from wliich 
the forest had wholly disappeared. General Knox, whose patent covered all 
islands within three miles of the shore, offered three thousand dollars to the 
seven farmers who then occupied it, in land and ready money, to relinquish 
their possession. Vessels were formerly built on the island, and it was fa- 
mous for its plentiful supplies of salmon. In old times a family usually took 
from ten to sixty barrels in a season, which brouglit in market »eiglit dollars 
the barrel. The fish were speared or taken in nets. Owners of jutting 
points made great captures. 

Tlie shores of the river are seen fringed with weirs, Salmon, shad, ale- 
wives, and smelts are taken in proper season, the crops of tlie sea succeeding 
each other with the same certainty as those of the land. Before the begin- 
ning of the century salmon had ceased to be numerous. Their scarcity was 
imputed to the Penobscot Indians, who destroyed them by fishing every day 
in the year, including Sundays, This king among fishes formerly frequented 
the Kennebec, the Merrimac, and were even taken in Ipswich River, and the 
small streams flowing into Massachusetts Bay. 

From Belfast I crossed the bay by Islesboro to Castine. I confess I look- 
ed upon this famous peninsula, crowned with a fortress, furrowed with the in- 
trenchments of forgotten wars, deserted by a commerce once considerable, lit- 
tle frequented by the present generation, with an interest hardly inferior to 
that stimulated by the associations of any spot of ground in New England. 

The peninsula of Castine presents to view two eminences with regu- 
lar outlines, of which the westernmost is the most conmianding. Both are 
smoothly rounded, and have steep though not difficult ascents. The present 
town is built along the base and climbs the declivity of the eastern hill, its 
principal street conducting from the water straight up to its crest, surmount- 
ed by the still solid ramparts of Fort George. The long occupation of the 
peninsula has nearly denuded it of trees. Its external aspects belong rather 
to the milder types of inland scenery than to the rugged grandeur of tlie near 
sea-coast. 

Passing by a bold promontor}^, on which the light-tower stands, the tide 

' In 1797 there were twenty vessels owned in Penobscot River, two of which were in Euro- 
pean trade. 



CASTINE. 65 

carries you swiftly through the Narrows to the anchorage before the town. 
Sliips of any class may be carried into Castine, while its adjacent waters 
would furnish snug harbors for fleets. You have seen, as you glided by 
the shores, traces, more or less distinct, of the sovereignty of Louis XIV., of 
George III., and of the republic of the United States. Puritans and Jesuits, 
Huguenots and Papists, kings and commons, have all scheaied and striven for 
the possession of this little corner of land. Richelieu, Mazarin, and Colbert 
have plotted for it ; Thurloe, Clarendon, and Bolingbroke have counter-plot- 
ted. It has been fought over no end of times, conquered and reconquered, 
and is now of no more political consequence than the distant peak of Ka- 
tahdin. 

There is very little appearance of business about Castine. It is delight- 
fully lethargic. Few old houses of earlier date than the Revolution remain 
to give the place a character of antiquity conformable with its history. Nev- 
ertheless, there are pleasant mansions, and cool, well-shaded by-ways, quiet 
and still, in which the echo of your own footfall is the only audible sound. 
The peninsula, which the inhabitants call the " Neck," in distinction from the 
larger fraction of the town, is of small extent. You may ramble all over it in 
an afternoon.' 

If it is a good maxim to sleep on a weighty matter, so it is well to dine 
before forming a judgment of a place you are visiting for the first time. 
Having broken bread and tasted salt, you believe yourself to have acquired 
some of the rights of citizenship; and if you have dined well, are not indis- 
posed to regard all you may see with a genial and not too critical an eye. 
Upon this conviction I acted. 

At the tavern, the speech of the girl who waited on the table was impeded 
by the gum she was chewing. While she was repeating the carte, the only 
words I was able to distinguish were, "Raw fish and clams." As I am not 
partial to either, I admit I was a little disconcerted, until a young man at my 
elbow interpreted, sotto voce, the jargon into " Corned fish and roast lamb." 
At intervals in the repast, the waiting -girl would run into the parlor and 
beat the keys of the piano, until recalled by energetic pounding upon the 
table with the haft of a knife. Below stairs I was present at a friendly al- 
tercation between the landlord and maid of all work, as to whether the towel 
for common use had been hanging a week or only six days. But "travelers," 
says Touchstone, "must be content;" and he was no fool though he wore 
motley. 

I ascended the hill above the town on which the Normal School is situ- 
ated, and in a few moments stood on the parapet of Fort George. And per- 
haps in no part of New England can a more beautiful and extensive view be 
had with so little trouble. It was simply enchanting. Such a combination 

' Tne upjjer and larger part is called North Castiue. 
5 



66 



THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 



of land and water is seldom embraced within a single coup cToell The vis- 
ion is bounded by those ])ortals of the bay, the Camden range on the sonth- 
■west, and the heights of Mount Desert in the east. A little north of east is 
the solitary Blue Ilill, with the windings and broad reaches of water by which 
Castine proper is nearly isolated from the main-land. Turning still northward, 
and now with your back to the town, you perceive Old P'ort Point, where, in 
1759, Governor Pownall built a work to command the entrance to the river. 
Farther to the westward is Brigadier's Island, and the bay expanding three 
leagues over to Belfast. 




VIEW FKOM FOllT GEOKGE. 



Fort George, a square, bastioned work, is the best preserved earth-work of 
its years in New England. A few hours would put it in a very tolerable con- 
dition of defense. The moat, excavated down to the solid rock, is intact; the 
esplanade hardly broken in outline. The position of the barracks, magazine, 
and guard-house may be easily traced on the parade, though no buildings 
now remain inside the fortress. The approach on three sides is by a steep 
ascent; especially is this the case on the side of the town. Each bastion was 
pierced with four embrasures. The position was of great sti'ength, and would 
have been an ngly place to carry by escalade. A matter of a few hours once 
determined the ownership of Castine for England or the Colonies in arms. 

Now let us take a walk over to the more elevated summit west of Fort 
George. Here are also evidences of military occupation in fost-perishing em- 
bankments and heaps of beach pebbles. What are left of the lines look over 
toward the English fort and the cove between it and the main -land. A 
broad, level plateau of greensward extends between the two summits, over 
which neither you nor I would have liked to walk in the teeth of rattling 
volleys of musketry. Yet such things have been on this very hill-top. 

The story of these foitifications is drawn from one of the most disgraceful 
chapters of the Revolutionary war. It is of a well- conceived enterprise 
brought to a disastrous issue through incapacity, discord, and blundering. 
There are no longer susceptibilities to be wounded by the relation, though 
for many years after the event it was seldom spoken of save with min- 
gled shame and indignation. Little enough is said of it in the newspapers 
of the time, for it was a terrible blow to Massachusetts pride, and struck 
home. 



CASTINE. 



67 



\^ 



In June, 1779, Colonel Francis M'Lean was sent from Halifax with nine 
hundred men to seize and fortify the peninsula, then generally known as 

Penobscot.' He landed 

on the 12th of June, and 
with the energy and de- 
cision of a good soldier 
•began the work of estab- 
lishing himself firmly in 
his position. 

* ^ •or - Xff. 

In the British ranks 4 

was one notable combat- 
ant. Captain John Moore, 
of the Fifty-first foot, who 
fell under the walls of Co- 
runna while commanding 
the British army in Spain. 
As his military career be- 
gan in America, I may 
narrate an incident illus- 
trating his remarkable 
popularity with his sol- 
diers. In l'799,at Egmont- 
op-zee, the Ninety-second 
fiercely charged a French 
brigade. A terrific melee ensued, in which the French were forced to retreat. 
In the midst of the combat two soldiers of the Ninety-second discovered Gen- 
eral Moore lying on his face, apparently dead ; for he was wounded and uncon- 
scious. " Here is the general ; let us take him away," said one of them, and, 
suiting the action to the word, they bore him to the rear. The general offer- 
ed a reward of twenty pounds; but could never discover either of the sol- 
diers who had aided him. Moore's death inspired Wolfe's admired lines, 
pronounced by Lord Byron " the most perfect ode in the language :" 

"Not a drum was heard, not a funeral note, 
As his corpse to the rampart we hurried; 
Not a soldier discharged his farewell shot 
O'er the grave where our hero we buried." 

"Moore," said Napoleon, "was a brave soldier, an excellent oflicer, and a 
man of talent. He made a few mistakes, inseparable, perhaps, from the diffi- 
culties with which he was suri-ounded." Beimr reminded that Moore was al- 




SIK JOHN MOOKE. 



' Castine was not incorporated under its present name until 170t). The Indian name of the 
peninsula was Bagaduce, or Biguyduce. 



68 



THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 




FOKT GRIFFITH. 



ways in the front of battle, and generally unfortunate enough to be wounded, 
he added, "Ah! it is necessary sometimes. He died gloriously; he died like 
a soldier." 

Great alarm was produced by M'Lean's bold dash. Immediate applica- 
tion was made to Massachusetts, of which Maine still formed a part, for aid 

to expel the invader. 
Hancock was then 
governor. General 
Gates commanded the 
Eastern Department, 
with head-quarters at 
Providence. The Mas- 
sachusetts rulers put 
their heads together, 
and, thinking on the 
brilliant achievement of their fathers at Louisburg in 1745, resolved to em- 
ulate it. They raised a large land and naval force with the utmost ex- 
pedition, laying an embargo for forty days in order to man their lieet with 
sailors. General Gates was neither consulted nor ap^jlied to for the Con- 
tinental troops under his orders.' 

The Massachusetts armament appeared off Penobscot on the 25th of July. 
The army was commanded by Solomon Lovell, the fleet by Captain Salton- 
stall, of the Warren, a fine new Continental frigate of thirty-two guns. Peleg 
Wadsworth was second in command to Lovell ; Paul Revere, whom Longfel- 
low has immortalized, had charge of the artillery. The land forces did not 
number more than twelve hundred men, but might be augmented to fifteen 
hundred or more with marines from the fleet. These troops were militia, and 
had only once. paraded together under arms. The flotilla was formidable in 
appearance and in the number of guns it carried, but lacked unity and dis- 
cipline quite as much as the army. Plenty of courage and plenty of means 
do not make soldiers or win battles. 

M'Lean had received intelligence of the sailing of the Massachusetts ar- 
mada. His fort was not yet capable of defense. Two bastions were not be- 
gun ; the two remaining, with the curtains, had not been raised more than 
four or five feet, and he had not a single gun mounted. Captain Mowatt of 
detestable memory,^ with three British vessels of small force, was in the har- 
bor. He took a position to prevent a landing on the south side of the j^enin- 
sula. A deep trench was cut across the isthmus connecting with the main- 
rfland, securing that passage. No landing could be effected except beneath 
the precipice, two hundred feet high, on the west. M'Lean dispatched a mes- 
senger to Halifax, and redoubled his efforts to strengthen his fort. 



* Gordon, vol. iii., p. 304:. 



The man who destroyed Falmouth, now Portland. 



CASTINE. 



69 



On the third clay after their arrival the Americans succeeded in handinof, 
and, after a gallant fight, gained the heights. This action — an augury, it would 
seem, of good success to the assailants, for the enemy had every advantage 
of position and knowledge of the ground — is the single crumb of comfort ta 
be drawn from the annals of the expedition. Captain Moore was in this af- 
fair. 

Instead of pursuing his advantage, General Lovell took a position within 
seven hundred and tif. 
ty yards of the ene- 
my's works, and be- 
gan to intrench. There 
"was fatal disagreement 
between the general 
and Sal ton stall. The 
sum of the matter Mas 
that Lovell, fearing to 
attack with his pres- 
ent force, sent to Bos- 
ton for re - enforce- 
ments. Then General 
Gates was applied to 
for help. Two weeks 
passed in regular ap- 
proaches on Lo veil's 
part, and in exertions 
by M'Lean to render his fort impregnable. At the end of this time, Sir 
George Collier arrived from New York with a fleet, and raised the siege. 
General Lovell says the army under his orders had very short notice of the 
arrival of this force, by reason of a fog that prevented its being seen until its 
near approach. The land forces succeeded in gaining tlie western shore of 
the river at various points, but had then to make their way through a wilder- 
ness to the settlements on the Kennebec. The fleet of Saltonstall was either 
destroyed or captured. 

It was not long after the complete dispersion of the ill-starred Penobscot 
expedition that General Peleg Wadsworth succeeded in entering the British 
fort on the hill at Bagaduce, He had more difliculty in leaving it. 

After the disbanding of his militia, the general made his quarters at 
Thomaston, where he lived with his wife in apparent security. A young lady 
named Fenno and a guard of six militia-men completed his gari'ison. Gen- 
eral Campbell, commanding at Bagaduce, was well informed of Wadsworth's 
defenseless condition, and resolved to send him an invitation to come and re- 
side in the fortress. A lieutenant and twenty-five men arrived at dead of 
night with the message at Wadsworth's house. The sentinel challenged and 




■~- -^ ■*> \i,V.-> 



FOKT GEORGE. 



70 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 

fled. General Wadsworth defended himself with S])artan bravery. Armed 
with a brace of pistols, a fusee, and a blunderbuss, he fought his assailants 
away from his windows and the door, through which they had followed the 
•retreating sentinel. In his shirt, witli his bayonet only, he disdained to yield 
for some time longer, until a shot disabled his left arm. Then, with five or 
six men lying wounded ai'ound him, the windows shattered, and the house on 
fire, Peleg Wadsworth Avas able to say, "I surrender." They took him, ex- 
hausted with his exertions and benumbed with cold, to the foil, where he was 
kept close prisoner. Some time after. Major Burton, who had served with the 
general, was also made prisoner, and lodged in the same room with him. 
Wadsworth applied for a parole. It was refused. Governor Hancock sent 
a cartel with an oflfer of exchange. It was denied. One daj' he was visited 
by Miss Fenno, who in five words gave him to know he was to be detained 
till the end of the war. Peleg Wadsworth then resolved to escape. 

The pi'isoners were confined in a room of the officers' quarters, the win- 
dow grated, the door provided with a sash, through which the sentinel, con- 
stantly on duty in the passage, could look into the room as he paced on his 
round. At either end of this passage was a door, opening upon the parade 
of the fort, .at which other sentinels were posted. At sunset the gates were 
closed, and the number of sentinels on the parapet increased. A ))icket was 
also stationed at the narrow isthmus connecting with the main-land. 

These were not all the difficulties in their way. Supposing them able to 
pass the sentinels in the passage and at the outer door of their quarters, they 
must then cross the open space and ascend tlie wall under the eye of the 
guards posted on the parapet. Admitting the summit of the rampart gained, 
the exterior wall was defended with strong pickets driven obliquely into the 
earthen wall of the fort. From this point was a sheer descent of twenty feet 
to the bottom of the ditch. Arrived here, the fugitives must ascend the coun- 
terscarp, and cross the chevaux-de-frise with which it was furnished. They 
were then without the fortress, with no possible means of gaining their free- 
dom except by water. To elude the j^icket at the Neck was not to be 
thought of. 

The prisoners' room was ceiled with pine boards. Upon some pretext 
they procured a gimlet of a servant, with which they perforated a board so 
as to make an aperture sufficiently large to admit the body of a man. The 
interstices were cut through with a penknife, leaving the corners intact until 
the moment for action should arrive. They then filled the holes with bread, 
and carefully removed the dust from the floor. This work liad to be exe- 
cuted while the sentinel traversed a distance equal to twice the depth of their 
own room. The prisoners paced their floor, keeping step with the sentry; 
and as soon as he had passed by, Barton, Avho was the taller, and could reach 
the ceiling, commenced work, while Wadsworth walked on. On the approach 
of the soldier Burton quickly rt^oined his companion. Three weeks were re- 



CASTING. 71 

quired to execute this task. Each was pvovifled with a blanket and a strons: 
staff, sharpened at the end. For food tliey kept tlieir crusts and dried bits of 
their meat. They waited until one nijjjht when a violent thunder-storm swept 
over the peninsula. It became intensely dark. The rain fell in torrents upon 
the roof of the barracks. The moment for action had come. 

The prisoners undressed themselves as usual, and went to bed, observed 
by the sentinel. They then extinguished their candle, and quickly arose. 
Their plan was to gain the vacant space above their room, creeping along 
the joists until they reached the passage next beyond, which they knew to 
be unguarded. Thence they were to make their way to the north bastion, 
acting as circumstances might determine. 

Burton was the first to pass through the opening. He had advanced but 
a little way before he encountered a flock of fowls, whose roost he had in- 
vaded. Wadsworth listened with breathless anxiety to the cackling that 
apprised him for the first time of this new danger. At length it ceased with- 
out having attracted the attention of the guards, and the general with difti- 
culty ascended in his turn. He passed over the distance to tlie gallery un- 
noticed, and gained the outside by the door that Burton had left open. Feel- 
ing his way along the wall of the barracks to the western side, he made a 
bold push for the embankment, gaining the rampart by an oblique path. At 
this moment the door of the guard-house was flung open, and a voice ex- 
claimed, " Relief, turn out !" Fortunately the guard passed without seeing the 
fugitive. He reached the bastion agreed upon as a rendezvous, but Burton 
was not there. No time was to be lost. Securing his blanket to a picket, 
he lowered himself as far as it would permit, and dropped without accident 
into the ditch. From here he passed softly out by the water- course, and 
stood in the open air without the fort. It being low tide, the general waded 
the cove to the main-land, and made the best of his way up the river. In the 
morning he was rejoined by his companion, and both, after exertions that ex- 
acted all their fortitude, gained the opposite shore of the Penobscot in safety. 
Their evasion is like a romance of the Bastile in the day of Richelieu. 

The gallant old general removed to Falmouth, now Portland, One of his 
sons, an intrepid spirit, was killed by the explosion of a fire-shij) before Trip- 
oli, in which he was a volunteer. A daughter married Hon. Stephen Long- 
fellow, of Portland, father of the poet. 

When the corjys cVarmee of Rochambeau was at Newport, the Fiench 
general conceived the idea of sending an expedition to recapture Penob- 
scot, and solicited the consent of Washington to do so. The French oflicers 
much preferred acting on an independent line, but the proposal was wisely 
negatived by the commander in chief The man to whom Rochambeau ex- 
pected to intrust the naval operations was La Peyrouse, the distinguished 
but ill-fated navigator. 

Other earth-works besides those already mentioned may be traced. Two 



^J2 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 

small batteries that guarded the approaches on the side of the cove are dis- 
tinct. Some of these works were renovated during the reoccupation of Cas- 
tine by the British in 1812. Others seen on the shores of the harbor are of 
more recent date. 

A speaking reminder of by -gone strife is an old cannon, lying on the 
greensward under the walls of Fort George, of whose grim muzzle school- 
irirls were wont to make a post-office. There was poetry in the conceit. 
Never before had it been so delicately charged, though I have known a per- 
fumed billet-doux do more damage than this fellow, double-shotted and at 
point-blank, might effect. 





ECINS OF FORT PENTAGOET, CASTINE. 

CHAPTER V. 

CASTINE — continued. 

"Baron Castine of St. Castine 
Has left his chateau in the Pyrenees, 
And sailed across the westem seas." 

LOXGFELLOAV, 

T" CONFESS I would rather stand in presence of the Pyramids, or walk in 
-■- the streets of buried Pompeii, than assist at the unwrapping of many flesh- 
less bodies. No other medium than the material eye can grasp a fact with 
the same distinctness. It becomes rooted, and you may hang your legends or 
traditions on its branches. It is true there is a class who journey from Dan 
to Beersheba, finding all barren ; but the average American, though far from 
unappreciative, too often makes a business of his recreation, and devours in 
an hour what might be viewed with advantage in a week or a month. 

After this frank declaration, the reader will not expect me to hurry him 
through a place that contains so much of the crust of antiquity as Castine, 
and is linked in with the Old-world chronicles of a period of surpassing in- 
terest, both in history and romance. 

Very little of the fort of the Baron Castin and his predecessors, yet 
enough to reward the research of the stranger, is to be seen on the margin of 
the shore of the harbor, less than half a mile from the central portion of the 
town. The grass-grown ramparts have sunk too low to be distinguished from 
the water in passing, but are evident to a person standing on the ground it- 
self. Not many years will elapse before these indistinct traces are wholly 
obliterated.' 

The bank here is not much elevated above high-water mark, Avhile at the 
wharves it rises to a higher level, and is ascended by stairs. The old fort was 



' In 1759 Governor Pownall took possession of the peninsula of Castine, and hoisted the En- 
glish flag on the fort. He found the settlement deserted and in ruins. — Gov. Fom'nall's Journal. 



74 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 

placed near the narrowest part of the harbor, with a firm pebbly beach before 
it. Small boats may land directly under the wrJls of the work at high tide, 
or lie protected by the curvature of the shore from the heavy seas rolling in 
from the outer harbor. The high hills over which we were rambling in the 
preceding chapter ward oif the northern winds. 

A portion of the ground covered by old Fort Pentagoet is now occupied 
by buildings, a barn standing within the circumvallation, and the dwelling 
of Mr. Webb between the shore and the road. A little stream of sweet water 
trickles along the south-west face of the work, and then loses itself among 
the pebbles of the beach. 

Fort Pentagoet, at its rendition by Sir Thomas Temple, in 1670, after the 
treaty of Breda, was a rectangular work with four bastions. The height of 
the curtains within was eight feet. On entering the fort a corps de garde^ 
twelve paces long and six broad, stood at the left, with a logis^ or quarter, on 
the opposite side of the entrance. On the left side were also two store-houses, 
each thirty-six paces long by twelve in breadth, covered with shingles. Un- 
derneath the store-houses was a cellar of about half their extent, in which a 
well had been sunk. Above the entrance was a turret, built of timber, plas- 
tered with clay, and furnished with a bell. At the right hand was a barrack 
of the same length and breadth as the store-houses, and built of stone. Sixty 
paces from the fort was a cabin of planks, in which the cattle were housed ; 
and at some distance farther was a garden in good condition, having fruit- 
trees. There were mounted on the ramparts six six-pounder and two four- 
pounder iron cannon, with two culverins. Six other pieces were lying, useless 
and dismounted, on the parapet. Overlooking the sea and detached from the 
fort was a platform, with two iron eight-pounders in position. 

The occupant of the nearest house told me an oven constructed of flat 
slate-stones was discovered in an angle of the work; also that shot had been 
picked up on the beach, and a tomahawk and stone pipe taken from the well. 
The whole ground has been explored with the divining-rod, as well within 
as without the fort, for treasure-trove; though little or nothing rewarded 
the search, except the discovery of a subterranean passage opening at the 
shore. 

These examinations were no doubt whetted by an extraordinary piece of 
good luck that befell farmer Stephen Grindle, while hauling wood from a 
rocky hill-side on the point at the second narrows of Bagaduce Kiver, about 
six miles from Castine peninsula. In 1840 this worthy husbandman saw a shin- 
ing object lying in the track of his oxen. He stooped and picked up a silver 
coin, as bright as if struck within a twelvemonth. On looking at the date, he 
found it to be two hundred years old. Farther search was rewarded by the 
discovery of several other pieces. A fall of snow interrupted the farmer's in- 
vestigations until the next spring, when, in or near an old trail leading across 
the point, frequented by the Indians from immemorial time, some seven hun- 



CASTINE. 75 

dred coins of the nominal value of four hundred dollars were unearthed near 
the surface. All the pieces were of silver. 

The honest farmer kept his own counsel, using his treasure from time to 

time to pay his store bills in the town, dolhir ^^^ ^.^^^''''fT''-^ 

for dollar, accounting one of Master Hull's y^5'°!°^''N~^ f^^^^S^'-. 
pine-tree shillings at a shilling. The store- /\^#^^^^!T^\|p|fi['^ 5S'|^* 
keepers readily accepted the exchange at \^'^^W|'^%^}^lS.^m 
the farmer's valuation ; but the possession \Oit*'^'SC^>!/ "Sp^ff^^Si 
of such a priceless collection was soon betray- ^■~.°!,°.--^ '^%rc,w...»"''^ 

ed by its circulation abroad. pine-tree shilling. 

Dr. Joseph L. Stevens, the esteemed antiquary of Castine, of whom I had 
these particulars, exhibited to me a number of the coins. They would have 
made a numismatist's mouth water, French ecus, Poi'tuguese and Spanish 
pieces-of-eight, Bremen dollars, piasters, and cob-money,' clipped and battered, 
with illegible dates, but melodious ring, chinked in better fellowship than the 
sovereigns whose effigies they bore had lived in. A single gold coin, the only 
one found in the neighborhood of Castine, was picked up on the beach oppo- 
site the fort.* 

The theory of the presence of so large a sum on the spot where it was 
found is that when Castin was driven from the fort by Colonel Church, in 
1704, these coins were left by some of his party in their retreat, where they 
remained undiscovered for more than a century and a quarter. Or it may 
have been the hoard of one of the two countrymen of Castin, who, he says, 
were living two miles from him in 1687. 

The detail of old Fort Pentagoet just given is believed to describe the 
place as it had existed since 1654, when captured by the colony forces of Mas- 
sachusetts. General Sedgwick then spoke of it as "a small foit, yet very 
strong, and a very well composed peese, with eight peese of ordnance, one 



' "The cliimsy, shapeless coinage, both of gold and silver, called in Mexico mdquina de pnpa, 
lotey cms ("windmill and cross-money"), and in this country by the briefer aj^pellation of "cobs." 
These were of the lawful standards, or nearly so, but scarcely deserved the name of coin, being 
rather lumps of bullion flattened and impressed by a hammer, the edge presenting every variety of 
form except that of a circle, and affording ample scope for the practice of clipping : notwithstand- 
ing they are generally found, even to this day, within a few grains of lawful weight. They are 
generally about a century old, but some are dated as late as 1770. Tiiey are distinguished by a 
large cross, of which the four arms are equal in length, and loaded at the ends. The date general- 
ly omits the thousandth place; so that 736, for example, is to be read 1736. The letters PLVS 
VLTRA (phis ultra) are crowded in witiiout attention to order. These coins were formerly 
brought here in large quantities for recoinage, but have now become scarce." — William E. Dcj- 
BOis, United States Mint. 

I think the name of "cob " was applied to money earlier than the date given by Mr. Dubois. 
Its derivation is uncertain, but was probably either "lump," or from the Welsh, for "thump," 
i. e., struck money. 

^ On an old map of unknown date Castin's houses are located here. 



Y6 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 

brass, three murtherers, about eighteen barrels of powder, and eighteen men 
in garrison.'" 

It would require a volume to set forth i/i extenso the annals of these 
mounds, scarce lifted above the surface of the surrounding plateau. But to 
arouse the reader's curiosity without an endeavor to gratify it were indeed 
churlish. I submit, therefore, with the brevity, and I hope also the simplicity, 
that should characterize the historic style, the essence of the matter as it has 
dropped from my alembic. 

The reader is referred to what is already narrated of Norumbega for the 
earliest knowledge of the Penobscot by white men. The first vessel tliat as- 
cended the river was probably the bark of Du Guast, Sieur de Monts, in the 
year 1604. De Poutrincourt was there in the year 1606.'' 

No establishment appears to have been begun on the Bagaduce peninsula 
until our colonists of New Plymouth fixed upon it for the site of a trading- 
post, about 1629.^ Here they erected a house, defended, probably, after the 
fashion of the time, with palisades, loop-holed for musketry. Tiiey were, a 
long way from home, and had need to keep a wary eye abroad. Governor 
Bradford mentions that the house was robbed by some "Isle of Rhe gentle- 
men" in 1632. 

The Plymouth people kept possession until 1635, Avhen they were dispos- 
sessed by an expedition sent from La Have, in Acadia, commanded by the 
Chevalier Charles de Menou, or, as he is usually styled, D'Aulnay Charnisay. 
The chevalier's orders from Kazilly, who had then the general command in 
Canada, were to expel all the English as far as Pemaquid. 

Plymouth Colony endeavored to retake the place by force. A large ship 
for that day, the Hope, of Ipswich, England, Girling commander, was titled 
out, and attacked the post in such a disorderly, unskillful manner that Gir- 
ling expended his ammunition before having made the least impression. 
Standish, the redoubtable, was there in a small bark, fuming at the incompe- 
tency of the commander of the Hope, who had been hired to do the job for so 
much beaver if he succeeded, nothing if he failed. Standish, with the beaver, 
returned to Plymouth, after sending Girling a new supply of powder from 
Pemaquid; but no further effort is known to have been made to reduce the 
place. 

The Pilgrims then turned to their natural allies, the Puritans of the Bay; 
but, as Rochefoucauld cunningly says, there is something in the misfortunes 



' Sedgwick's Letter, Historical Magazine, July, 1873, p. 38. 

^ Williamson thinks the name of Cape Rosier a distinct reminder of Weymouth's voyage. 

^ Though Hutchinson says "about 1G27," I think it an error, as Allerton, the promoter of the 
project, was in England in that year, as well as in 1026 and 1G28, as agent of the colony. Nor was 
the proposal brought forward until Sherley and Ilatherly, two of the adventurers, wrote to Gov- 
ernor Bradford, in 1629, that they had determined npon it in connection \vith Allerton, and in- 
vited Plymouth to join with them. 



CASTINE. 77 

of onr friends that does not displease us. They got smooth speeches in plen- 
ty, but no help. It is curious to observe that at this time the two colonies 
combined were too weak to raise and equip a hundred soldiers on a sudden 
call. So the French remained in possession until 1654. 

An attempt was made by Plymouth Colony to liberate their men cap- 
tured at Penobscot. Isaac Allerton was sent to demand them of La Tour, 
who in haughty terms refused to deliver them up, saying all the country from 
Cape Sable to Cape Cod belonged to the king, his master, and if the English 
persisted in trading east of Peinaquid he would capture them. 

"Will monseigneur deign to show me his commission?" 

The chevalier laid his hand significantly on his sword-hilt. "This," said 
he, "is my commission." 

I have mentioned three Frenchmen : Sir Isaac de Kazilly, a soldier of the 
monastic order of Malta ; La Toui-, a heretic ; and D'Aulnay, a zealous papist. 

Kazilly's commission is dated at St. Germain en Laye, May 10th, 1632. 
He was to take possession of Port Royal, so named by De Monts, from its 
glorious harbor, and ceded to France under the treaty of 1629. This was the 
year after tlie taking of La Rochelle; so that we are now in the times of 
the great cardinal and his puissant adversary, Buckingham. The kniglit of 
Malta was so well pleased with Acadia that he craved permission of the 
grand master to remain in the country. He was recalled, with a reminder 
of the subjection exacted by that semi-tuilitary, semi-ecclesiastical body of its 
members. Hutchinson says he died soon after 1635. There is evidence he 
was alive in 1638. 

In 1638 Louis XIII. addressed the following letter to D'Aulnay : " You are 
my lieutenant-general in the country of the Etchemins, from the middle of 
the main-laud of Frenchman's Bay to the district of Canceaux. Tims you 
may not change any regulation in the establishment on the River St. John 
made by the said Sieur De la Tour, etc.'" Three years afterward the king 
sent his commands to La Tour to return to France immediately ; if he refused, 
D'Aulnay was ordered to seize his person. 

Whether the death of Louis, and also of his Eminence, at this time divert- 
ed the danger with which La Tour was threatened, is a matter of conjecture. 
D'Aulnay, however, had possessed himself, in 1643, of La Tour's fort, and the 
latter was a suppliant to the English at Boston for aid to displace his adver- 
sary. He obtained it, and recovered Jiis own again, but Avas unable to eject 
D'Aulnay from Penobscot. A second attempt, also unsuccessful, was made 
the following year. The treaty between Governor Endicott and La Tour in 
tins year was afterward ratified by the United Colonies. 

In 1645 D'Aulnay was in France, receiving the thanks of the king and 
queen-mother for his zeal in preserving Acadia from the treasonable designs 

« 

* "Archives of Massachusetts." 



78 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 

of La Tour. The next year a treaty of peace was concluded at Boston be- 
tween tlie English and D'Aulnay ; and in 1647, the king granted him letters 
patent of lieutenant-general from the St. Lawrence to Acadia. He died May 
24th, 1650, from freezing, while out in the bay with his valet in a canoe. La 
Tour finished by marrying the widow of D'Aulnay, thus composing, and for- 
ever, his feud with the husband.' 

For some years quiet reigned in the peninsula, or until 1654, when an ex- 
pedition was fitted out by Massachusetts against Stuyvesant and the Dutch 
at Manhattan. Peace having been concluded before it was in readiness, the 
Puritans, with true thrift, launched their armament against the unsuspect- 
ing Mounseers of Penobscot. Althougli peace also existed between Cromwell 
and Louis, the expenditure of much money without some gain was not to be 
tliought of in the Bay. For a pretext, they had always the old grudge of 
prior right, going back to Elizabeth's patent of 1578 to Sir Humphrey Gilbert. 

Robert Sedgwick and John Leverett were two as marked men as could 
be found in New England. They sailed from Nantasket on the 4th of July, 
1654, with three ships, a ketch, and two liundred soldiers of Old and New 
England. Port Royal, the fort on St. John's River, and Penobscot, were all 
captured. Afterward they served the Protector in England. Sedgwick was 
chosen by Cromwell to command his insubordinate and starving army at Ja- 
maica, and died, it is said, of a broken heart, from the weight of responsibility 
imposed on him. 

Altliough the King of France testified great displeasure because the forts 
in Acadia were not restored to him, Cromwell continued to hold them fast, 
nor were they given up until after the treaty of Breda, when Pentagoet, in 
1669-'70, was delivered by Sir Thomas Temple to M. De Grand Fontaine, 
who, in 1673, turned over the command to M. De Chambly. 

On the 10th of August, 1674, M. De Chambly was assaulted by a buccaneer 
that had touched at Boston, where an English pilot, as M. De Frontenac says, 
was taken on board. An Englishman, who had been four days in the place 
in disguise, gave the pirates every assistance.^ They landed one hundred 
and ten men, and fell with fury on the little gari-isou of thirty badly armed 
and disaffected Frenchmen. After sustaining the onset for an hour, M. De 
Chambly fell, shot through the body. His ensign was also struck down, 
when the fort surrendered at discretion. The sea-robbers pillaged the fort, 
carried off the cannon, and conducted the Sieur De Chambly to Boston, along 
with M. De Marson, whom they took in the River St. John. Cliambly was 
put to ransom of a thousand beaver-skins. Colbert, then minister, expi-essed 



' Aglate la Tour, granddaughter of the chevalier, sold the seigniory of Acadia to the crown for 
two thousand guineas. — Douglass. 

' Mr. Sliea (Charlevoix) says this ^as John Rhoade, and the vessel the Flying Horse, Captain 
Jurriaen Aernouts, with a coininission from the Prince of Orange. 



CASTINE. 



79 



his surprise to Frontenac that the forts of Pentagoet and Gemisee had been 
taken and i)il]aged by a freebooter. Xo rupture then existed between the 
crowns of England and France. 

Another subject of Louis le Grand now raps with his sword-hilt for admis- 
sion to our galhmt com- 
pany of noble French gen- 
tlemen who have followed 
the lead of De Monts into 
the wilds of Acadia. Bar- 
on La Hontan, writing in 
1683, says, "The Baron 
St. Castin, a gentleman of 
Oleron, in Bearne, having 
lived among the Abena- 
quis after the savage way 
for above twenty years, is 
so much respected by the 
savages that they look 
upon him as their tutelar 
god.^'_ 

Vincent, Baron St. Cas- 
tin, came to America with 
his regiment about 1665. 
He was ensign in the reg- 
iment Carignan, of which 
Henry de Chapelas was 
colonel. Chambly and ,'^-'^- 
Sorel, who were his com- |^^>i 
rades, have also left their |^ 
names impressed on the 1^ _ 
map of New France. The colbert. 

regiment was disbanded, the governor-general allowing each officer three or 
four leagues' extent of good land, with as much depth as they pleased. The 
officers, in turn, gave their soldiers as much ground as they wished upon pay- 
ment of a crown per arpent by way of fief.' Chambly we have seen in com- 
mand at Pentagoet in 16*73. Castin appears to liave plunged into the wilder- 
ness, making his abode with the fierce Abenaquis. 

The young Bearnese soon acquired a wonderful ascendency among them. 
He mastered their language, and received, after the savage's romantic lash- 
ion, the hand of a princess of the nation, the daughter of Madocawando, the 
implacable foe of the English, They made him their great chief, or leader, 




Estates are still convejed in St. Louis by the arpent. 



80 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 

and at his summons all the wavriovs of the Ahenaquis gathered around him. 
Exercising a regal power in his forest dominions, he no doubt felt every inch 
a chieftain. The French governors courted him ; the English feared and 
hated him. In 1696, with Iberville, he overran their stronghold at Pemaquid. 
He fought at Port Royal in 1706, and again in 1707, receiving a wound there. 
He was, says M. Denonville, of a daring and enterprising character, thirsting 
for distinction. In 1702 he proposed a descent on Boston, to be made in win- 
ter by a competent land and naval force. Magazines were to be formed at 
Piscataqua and Marblehead. 

It is known that some earlier passages of Castin's life in Acadia were not 
free from reproach. Denonville,' in recommending him to Louvois as the 
proper person to succeed M. Perrot at Port Royal (" si M. Perrot degoutait 
de son gouvernment"), admits he had been addicted in the past to riot and 
debaiichery ; "but," continues the viceroy, "I am assured that he is now 
quite reformed, and has very proper sentiments on the subject." Perrot, jeal- 
ous of Castin, put him in arrest for six weeks for some foolish aiFair among 
the Jilles of Port Royal. 

"For man is fire and woman is tow, 
And tlie Somebody comes and begins to blow," 

In 1686 Castin was at Pentagoet. The place must have fallen into sad 
neglect, for the Governor of Canada made its fortification and advantages tlie 
subject of a memoir to his Government. It became the rendezvous for proj- 
ects against New England. Quebec was not difficult of access by river and 
land to Castin's fleet Abenaquis. Port Royal was within supporting distance. 
The Indians interposed a barrier between English aggression and the French 
settlements. They were the weapon fi-eely used by all the French rulers un- 
til, from long service, it became blunted and unserviceable. They were then 
left to shift for themselves. 

Here Castin continued with his dusky wife and brethren, although he had 
inherited an income of five million livres while in Acadia, By degrees he 
had likewise amassed a fortune of two or three hundred thousand crowns "in 
good dry gold ;" but the only use he made of it was to buy presents for his 
fellow-savages, who, upon their return from the hunt, repaid him with usury 
in beaver-skins and peltries,^ In 1688 his trading-house was plundered by 
the English, It is said he died in America, but of this I have not the evi- 
dence, 

Vincent de Castin never changed his wife, as the Indian customs permit- 
ted, wishing, it is supposed, by his example to impress upon them the sanctity 

' Denonville, who succeeded M. De la Bane as governor-general, was maitre de camp to the 
queen's dragoons. He was succeeded hy Frontenac. 
^ Denonville's and La Hontan's letters. 



CASTINE. 81 

of marriage as a part of the Christian religion. He liad several daughters, all 
of whom were well married to Frenchmen, and had good dowries ; one was 
captured by Colonel Church in 1704. He had also a son. 

In 1721, during wliat was known as Lovewell's war, in which Mather in- 
timates, with many nods and winks set down in print, the English were the 
aggressors, Castin the younger was kidnaped, and carried to Boston a pris- 
oner. His offense was in attending a council of the Abenaquis in his capacity 
of chief. He was brought before the council and interrogated. His mien 
was frank and fearless. In his uniform of a French officer, he stood with 
true Indian sang froid in the presence of men who he knew were able to 
deal heavy blows. 

"I am," said he, "an Abenaquis by my mother. All my life has been 
passed among the nation that has made me chief and commander over it. 
I could not be absent from a council where the interests of my brethren were 
to be discussed. The Governor of Canada sent me no orders. The dress I 
now wear is not a uniform, but one becoming my rank and birth as an officer 
in the troops of the most Christian king, my master." 

The young baron was placed in the custody of the sheriff of Middlesex. 
He was kej^t seven months a prisoner, and then released before his friends, 
the Abenaquis, could strike a blow for his- deliverance. This once formidable 
tribe was such no longer. In 1689 it scarcely numbered a hundred warriors. 
English policy had set a price uj^on the head of every hostile Indian. Castin, 
soon after his release, returned to the old family chateau among the Pyrenees. 

"The choir is singing tlie matin song; 

The doors of tl)e church are opened wide ; 
The people crowd, and press, and throng 

To see the bridegroom and the bride. 
They enter and pass along tlie nave ; 
They stand upon the farthest grave ; 
The bells are ringing soft and slow; 
The living above and the dead below 
Give their blessing on one and twain ; 
The warm wind blows from the hills of Spain, 
The birds are building, the leaves are green. 
The Baron Castine of St. Castine 
Hath come at last to his own again." 

According to the French historian, Charlevoix, the Capuchins had a hos- 
pice here in 1646, when visited by Pere Dreuillettes. I may not neglect 
these worthy fathers, whose disputes about sleeves and cowls, Voltaii'C says, 
were more than any among the philosophers. The shrewdness of these old 
monks in the choice of a location has been justified by the cities and towns 
sprung from the sites of their primitive missions. Here, as elsewhere, 

" — These black crows 
Had pitched by instinct on the fattest fallows." 
G 



82 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 

"I," said Napoleon, at St. Helena, "rendered all the burying-places inde- 
pendent of the priests, I hated friars" (/rati), "and was the annihilator of 
them and of their receptacles of crime, the monasteries, where every vice was 
practiced with impunity. A set of miscreants" (scelerati) "who in general are 
a dishonor to the human race. Of priests I would have always allowed a 
sufficient number, but no frati.''^ A Capuchin, says an old dictionary of 16*76, 
is a friar of St. Francis's order, wearing a cowl, or capouch, but no shirt nor 
breeches.* 

Opening our history at the epoch of the settlement of New France, and 
turning over page by page the period we have been reviewing, there is no 
more hideous chapter than the infernal cruelties of the Society of Jesus, 
Their agency in the terrible persecutions of the Huguenots is too well known 
to need repetition. St. Bartholomew, the broken pledge of the Edict of Nantes, 
the massacres of Vivarais, of Rouergue, and of Languedoc are among their 
monuments. 

The rigor with which infractions of the discipline of the order were pun- 
ished would be difficult to believe, if unsupported by trustworthy testimony. 
Francis Seldon, a young pupil of the Jesuit College at Paris, M-as imprisoned 
thirty-one years, seventeen of which were passed at St. Marguerite, and four- 
teen in the Bastile. His crime was a lampoon of two lines affixed to the col- 
lege door. A lettre de cachet from Louis XIV. consigned this poor lad of 
only sixteen to the Bastile in 1674, from which he only emerged in 1705, by 
the assignment of a ricli inheritance to the Society, impiously called, of Jesus, 

The siege of La Rochelle, and slaughter of the Huguenots, is believed to 
have been nothing more than a duel between Richelieu and Buckingham, for 
the favor of Anne of Austria. It was, however, in the name of religion that 
the population of France was decimated. Colbert, in endeavoring to stem the 
tide of persecution, fell in disgrace. Louvois seconded with devilish zeal the 
projects of the Jesuits, which had no other end than the total destruction of 
the reformed faith. In 1675 Pere Lachaise entered on his functions of father- 
confessor to the king. He was powerfully seconded by his society ; but they, 
fearing his Majesty might regard it as a pendant of St. Bartholomew, hesi- 
tated to press a decisive cottp cVetat against the Protestants. 

There was at the court of Louis the widow Scarron, become De Main- 
tenon, declared mistress of the king, who modestly aspired to replace Marie 
Tlierese of Austria upon the throne of France. To her the Jesuits address- 
ed themselves. It is believed the compact between the worthy contracting 
parties exacted no less of each than the advancement of their mutual proj- 
ects through the seductions of the courtesan, and the fears for his salvation 
the Jesuits were to ins|)ire in the mind of the king. Louis believed in the 
arguments of Madame De Maintenon, and signed the Edict of Nantes ; he 

' Capuchin, a cowl or liood. 



CASTINE. 83 

ceded to the threats or counsels of his confessor, and secretly espoused Ma- 
dame De Maintenon. The 25th October, 1685, the royal seal was, it is not 
doubted by her inspiration, appended to the barbarous edict, drawn up by the 
Pere Le Tellier, under the auspices of the Society of Jesus.' 

France had already lost a hundred thousand of her bravest and most 
skillful children. She was now to lose many more. Among the fugitives 
driven from the fatherland were many who fled, as the Pilgrims had done 
into Holland. Some sought the New World, and their descendants were 
such men as John Jay, Elias Boudiuot, James Bowdoin, and Peter Faneuil. 

Before the famous edict of 1685, the Huguenots had been forbidden to 
establish themselves either in Canada or Acadia. They were permitted to 
visit the ports for trade, but not to exercise their religion. The Jesuits took 
care that the edict was enforced in the French possessions. I have thought 
the oft-cited intolerance of the Puritans might be eflfectively contrasted with 
the diabolical zeal with which Catholic Christendom pursued the annihilation 
of the reformed religion. 

The Jesuits obtained at an early day a preponderating influence in Cana- 
da and in Acadia. It is believed the governor-generals had not such real 
power as the bishops of Quebec. At a later day, they were able well-nigh 
to paralyze Montcalm's defense of Quebec. The fathers of the order, with 
the crucifix held aloft, preached crusades against the English to the savages 
they were sent to convert. One of the fiercest Canabas chiefs related to an 
English divine that the friars told his people the blessed Virgin was a French 
lady, and that her son, Jesus Christ, had been killed by the English.^ One 
might say the gray hairs of old men and the blood -dabbled ringlets of in- 
nocent children were laid on the altars of their chapels. 

We can afibrd to smile at the forecast of Louis, when he says to M. De 
la Bari"fe in 1683, "I am persuaded, like you, that the discoveries of Sieur La 
Salle are altogether useless, and it is necessary, hereafter, to put a stop to 
such enterprises, which can have no other effect than to scatter the inhabit- 
ants by the hope of gain, and to diminish the supply of beaver." We still 
preserve in Louisiana the shadow of the sceptre of this monarch, whose needy 
successor at Versailles sold us, for fifteen millions, a territory that could pay 
the German subsidy with a year's harvest. 

Doubtless the little bell in the hospice turret, tolling for matins or vespers, 
was often heard by the fisher in the bay, as he rested on his oars and repeat- 
ed an ave,ov chanted the parting hymn of the Proven9al: 

"O, vierge! • O, Marie! 
Pour nioi priez Dieu ; 
Adien, adieu, patrie, 
Provence, adieu." 

' Count Fronteuac was a relati\e of De jMainteiion. ^ Cotton iMather. 



84 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 

There is a pleasant ramble over the hill by the cemetery, with the same 
accompaniments ofgreen turf, limpid bay, and cool breezes everywhere. Inter- 
mitting pufts, ruffling the water here and there, fill the sails of coasting craft, 
while others lie becalmed within a few cable -lengths of them. Near the 
north-west corner of the ground I discovered vestiges of another small battery. 

Castine having assumed the functions of a town witliin a period compara- 
tively recent, her cemetery shows few interesting stones. The ancients of the 
little Acadian hamlet lie in forgotten graves ; no inoss-covered tablets for the 
antiquary to kneel beside, and trace the time-worn course of the chisel, are 
there. Numbers of graves are indicated only by the significant heaving of 
the turf In one part of tlie field is a large and rudely fashioned slate-stone 
standing at the head of a tumulus. A tablet with these lines is affixed: 

IN MEMORY OF 

CHARLES STEWART, 

The earliest occupant of this Mansion of the Dead, 

A Native of Scotland, 

And Tst Lieut. Comm. of his B. M. 74th Regt. of foot, or Argyle Highlanders. 

Who died in this Town, while it was in possession of the Enemy, 

March, A.D. 1783, 

And was interred beneath this stone, 

JEt about 40 yrs. 



This Tablet was inserted 
A.D. 1849. 

The tablet has a tale to tell. It runs that Stewart quarreled with a 
brother officer at the mess-table, and challenged him. Hearing of the intend- 
ed duel, the commanding officer reprimanded the hot-blooded Scotsman in 
such terms that, stung to the quick, he fell, Roman-like, on his own sword. 

Elsewhere I read the name of Captain Isaiah Skinner, who, as master of a 
packet plying to the opposite shore, " thirty thousand times braved the per- 
ils of our bay." 

While I was in Castine I paid a visit to the factory in which lobsters are 
canned for mariet. A literally "smashing" business was carrying on, but 
with an uncleanness that for many months impaired my predilection for this 
delicate crustacean. The lobsters are brought in small vessels from the low- 
er bay. They are then tossed, while living, into vats containing salt water 
boiling liot, where they receive a thorough steaming. They are next trans- 
ferred to long tables, and, after cooling, are opened. Only the flesh of the 
lai-ger claws and tail is used, the remainder being cast aside. The j-eserved 
portions are put into tin can, 5 that, after being tightly soldered, are subjected 
to a new steaming of five and a half hours to keep them fresh.' 

In order to arrrst the wholesale slaughter of the lobster, stringent laws 



Isle au Haut is particularly renowned for the size and quality of these fish. 



CASTINE. 



85 



liave been made in Maine and Massacliusetts. The fisliery is proliibitcd dur- 
ing certain months, and a fine is imposed for every tish exposed for sale of 
less than a certain growth. Of a heap containing some eight hundred lob- 
sters brought to the factory, not fifty were of thio size; a large proportion 
were not eight inches long. Frequent boiling in the same water, with the 
slovenly appearance of the operatives, male and female, would suggest a 
doubt whether plain Penobscot lobster is as toothsome as is supposed. The 
whole process was in marked contrast with the scrupulous neatness with 
which similar operations are elsewhere conducted; nor was there particular 
scrutiny as to whether the lobsters were already dead when received from 
the vessels. 

Wood, in the " New England Prospect," mentions that lobsters were so 




LOBSTER POT. 



plenty and little esteemed they were seldom eaten. They were fi'cquent- 
ly, he says, of twenty pounds' weight. The Indians used lobsters to bait 
their hooks, and ate them when they could not get bass. I have seen an ac- 
count of a lobster that weighed thirty-five pounds. Josselyn mentions that 
he saw one weighing twenty pounds, and that the Indians dried them for 
food as they did lampreys and oysters. 

The first-comers into New England waters were not more puzzled to find 
the ancient city of Nornmbega than I to reach the fabulous Down East of 
the moderns. In San Francisco the name is vaguely applied to the territory 
east of the Mississippi, though more frequently the rest of the republic is al- 
luded to as "The States." South of the obliterated Mason and Dixon's line, 
the region east of the Alleghanies and north of the Potomac is Down East, 
and no mistake about it. In New York you are as far as ever from this terra 
incognita. In Connecticut they shrug their shoulders and point you about 
north-north-east. Down East, say Massachusetts people, is just across our 
eastern border. Arrived on the Penobscot, I fancied myself there at last. 



86 



THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 



"Whither bound?" I asked of a fisherman, getting i;p his foresail before 
loosing from the wharf 

"Sir, to yon. Down East." 

The evident determination to shift the responsibility forbade further pur- 
suit of this fictitious land. Besides, Maine people are indisposed to accept 
without ciiallenge the name so universally applied to them of Down Eastei's. 
We do not say down to the North Pole, and we do say down South. Tlie 
higher latitude we make northwardly the farther down we get. Neverthe- 
less, disposed as I avow myself to present the case fairly, the people of Maine 
uniformly say "up to the westward," when speaking of Massachusetts. Of 
one thing I am persuaded — Down East is nowhere in New England. 





OLD FOKT FKEDEKICK, PEMAC^LIU POINT. 



CHAPTER VI. 

PEMAQUID POINT. 

"Love thou thy land, with love far-brought 
Fi'om out the storied Past, and used 
Within the Present, but transfused 
Thro' future time by power of thought." 

Tennyson. 

\ VERY small fraction of the people of New England, I venture to say, 
-^-^ know more of Pemaqnid than that such a place once existed somewhere 
within her limits ; yet it is scarcely possible to take up a book on New En- 
gland in which the name does not occur with a frequency that is of itself a 
spur to inquiry. If a few volumes be consulted, the materials for history be- 
come abundant. After accumulating for two hundred years, or more, what 
belongs to the imperishable things of earth, this old outpost of English pow- 
er has returned into second childhood, and become what it originally was, 
namely, a fishing-village. 

But those who delight in ferreting through the chinks and crannies of an 
out-of-the-way locality, will be repaid by starting from Damariscotta on a 
coastwise voyage of discovery. In traveling by railway from Portland, with 
your face to the rising sun, you catch occasional glimpses of the ocean, and 
you receive imperfect impressions of the estuaries that indent her "hundred- 
harbored " shores ; but from the window of a stage-coach journeying at six 
miles an hour the material and mental eye may receive and fix ideas more dis- 
tinct and enduring. 

I reached the little village of New Harbor, at Pemaquid Point, in time to 
see the sun crimson in setting, a cloudless sky, and an unruffled sea. Monhe- 
gan Island grew of a deep purple in the twilight shadows. The tower lamps 
were alight, and from neighboring islands other beacons twinkled pleasantly 



88 



THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 




'THE LAND i'.Ki:i;zi; (IF i:\'i;mn( 



on the waters. Coasting vessels trimmed their sails to catch the land-breeze 
of evening. Then the moon arose. 

The little harbor beneath me contained a few small fishing-vessels at an- 
chor. One or two 



others were slow- 
ly working their 
way in. The cot- 
tages straggling 
by the shore were 
not numerous or 
noticeable. It 

was still some 
three miles to the 
light-house at the 
extremity of the 
point. 

At Bristol 
Mills I had ex- 
changed the stage for a beach-wagon. The driver was evidently a person 
of consequence liere, as he usually becomes in such isolated neighborhoods 
out of the beaten paths of travel. His loquacity was marvelous. He had 
either a message or a missive for every one he met ; and at the noise of our 
wheels house doors opened, and the noses and lips of youngsters were flat- 
tened in a whimsical manner against the window-panes. I observed that he 
invariably saluted the girls by their Christian names as they stood shyly 
peeping through half-opened doors ; adding the middle name to the baptismal 
whenever one might be claimed, as Olive Ann, Matilda Jane, or Hannah Ann. 
I should have called some of them plain Olive, or Matilda, or Hannah. The 
men answered to such names as Dominions, Jott, and 'Life (Eliphalet). Thus 
this brisk little fellow's passing was the great event over four miles of road. 
I should have gone directly to the old settlement on the other side of the 
Neck, now known as " The Factory ;" but here, for a wonder, were no hotels, 
and travelers are dependent upon private hospitality. " Do you think they 
will take me in over there ?" I queried, pointing to the old mansion on the 
site of Fort Frederick. The driver shook his head. 
"Are they quite full ?" 

"Solid," was his reply, given with an emphasis that conveyed the impres- 
sion of sardines in a box. So I was fain to rest Avith a fisherman turned store- 
keeper. 

The little rock-environed harbor on the side of Muscongus Bay is a mere 
roadstead, unfit for shipping in heavy easterly weather. This place, like many 
neighboring sea-coast hamlets, was busily engaged in the mackerel and men- 
haden fishery. The latter fish, usually called " porgee," is in demand at the 



PEMAQUID POINT. 89 

factories along shore for its oil, and among Bank fishermen as bait. Some old 
cellars on the north side of New Harbor indicated the locale of a former gen- 
eration of fishermen. On this side, too, there existed, not many years ago, re- 
mains of a fortification of ancient date.* Shot, household utensils, etc., have 
been excavated there. There is also by the shore what was either the lair 
of wild beasts, or a place of concealment frequented by savages. Mr. M'Far- 
land, one of the oldest residents, mentioned that he had found an arrow-head 
in the den. Various coins and Indian implements, some of wliich I saw, have 
been turned up with the soil on this neck of land. 

The visitor will not leave New Harbor without hearing of sharp work 
done there in the war of 1812. The enemy's cruisers kept the coast in per- 
petual alarm by their marauding excursions in defenseless harbors. One 
day a British frigate hove to in the Bay, and in a short time a number of 
barges were seen to push off, fully manned, for the shore. The small militia 
guard then stationed in Old Fort Frederick was notified, and the residents 
of New Harbor prepared for action. As the leading British barge entered 
the harbor, it was hailed by an aged fislierman, who warned the officer in 
charge not to attempt to land. " If a single gun is fired," replied the Briton, 
"the town shall be destroyed." 

Not a single gun, but a deadly volley, answered the threat. The rocks 
were bristling with old queen's arms and ducking-guns, in the grasp of a score 
of resolute fellows. Every shot was well aimed. The barge drifted help- 
lessly out with the tide, and the captain of the frigate had a sony dispatch 
for the admiral at Halifax. 

Leaving New Harbor, I crossed a by-path that conducted to the factory 
road. Here and elsewhere I had listened to the story of the destruction 
of the menhaden, from the fishermen's point of view. They apprehend noth- 
ing less than the total disappearance of this fish at no distant day. " What 
are we poor fellows going to do when they catch up all the porgees?" asked 
one. The fishery, as conducted by the factories, is regarded by the fishermen 
proper as the introduction of improved machinery that dispenses Avith labor 
is looked upon by the operative. Although the oil factories purchase the 
catch that is brought in, the owners are considered intruders, and experi- 
ence many petty vexations. As men of capital, possessed of all needful ap- 
pliances for their business, they are really independent of the resident pop- 
ulation, to whom, on the other hand, they disburse money and give employ- 
ment. The question Avith which the political economist will have to deal is 
the expected extinction of the menhaden. 

I went through the factory at Pemaquid Point, and was persuaded the 
fish could not long support the drain upon them. The porgee begins to fre- 

' This work is on an old map of tlie Kennebec patent. It was about twenty rods square, with 
a bastion. A house now stands in the space it formerly occupied. 



90 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 

quent these waters in June. The first -comers are lean, and will make only 
a gallon of oil to the barrel; those of September yield four gallons. A fleet 
of proi)eners, as well as sailing-craft of forty to fifty tons burden, are kept 
constantly employed. 

At Pemaquid harbor, the fish cargoes are transferred from the steamer 
to an elevated tank of the capacity of four thousand barrels. Underneath 
the tank a tram-way, conducting by an inclined plane to the second story of 
the factory, is laid upon the wharf. In the bottom of the tank is a trap-door 
that, upon being opened, quickly fills a car placed below. The fish are then 
taken into the factory and dumped into other tanks, containing each three 
car-loads, or about sixty barrels. Here steam is introduced, rapidly convert- 
ing the fish into unsavory chowder, or "mash," As many as a dozen of these 
vats were in constant use. The oil and water being drawn off into other 
vats, the product is obtained through the simplest of machinery, and the well- 
known principle tliat in an admixture with water oil will rise to the surfiice. 
The residuum from the first process is shoveled into perforated iron cylinders, 
by men standing up to their knees in the steaming mass. It is then sub- 
jected to hydraulic pressure, and, after the extraction of every drop of oil, is 
carefully housed, to be converted into phosphates. The water is 2->assed from 
tank to tank until completely free of oil. Nothing is lost. 

This factory had a capacity of three thousand barrels per day, though not 
of the largest class. Others were working day and night through the season, 
which continues for about three months. 

I walked afterward by the side of a seine two hundred fathoms in length, 
spread upon the grass in order to contract the meshes. One of them frequent- 
ly costs above a thousand dollars, and is sometimes destroyed at the first cast- 
ing by being caught on the ledges in shallow water. 

An old liand can easily tell the difference between a school of mackerel 
and one of menhaden. The former rush in a body on the top of the water, 
while the shoal of porgees merely ripples the surface, as is sometimes seen 
when a moving body of water impinges against a counter -current. The 
mackerel takes the hook, while the porgee and herring never do. 

The talk was more fishy here than in any place I have visited. Here they 
call a school, or shoal, "a pod of fish ;" " we sot round a pod" being a com- 
mon expression. The small vessels are called seiners. When they approach 
a school, the seine is carried out in boats, one end being attached to the ves- 
sel, except when a bad sea is running. I have seen the men standing up to 
the middle among the fish they were hauling in ; and they are sometimes 
obliged to abandon half their draught. 

The whole process of rendering menhaden into oil is less offensive to the 
olfactories than might be supposed. The works at Pemaquid Point are own- 
ed by Judson, Tarr, and Co., of Rockport, Massachusetts. As against the gen- 
erally received opinion that they were destroying fish faster than the losses 



PEMAQtfiD POINT. 91 

could be repaired, the unusual abundance of mackerel the last year was cited. 
Mackerel, however, are not ground up at the rate of many thousand barrels 
per day. It is easy to conjecture that present profit is more looked to than 
future scarcity. The product of menhaden is chiefly used in the adulteration 
of linseed-oil. This fish is probably the same called by the French '•'•gaspa- 
rot^'' and found by them in great abundance on the coasts of Acadia. 

Some account of the habits of the mackerel, as given by veteran fisher- 
men, is of interest to such as esteem this valuable fish — and the number is 
legion — if not in explanation of the seemingly purposeless drifting of the 
mackerel fleet along shore, which is, nevertheless, guided by calculation. 

In early spring the old breeding fish come into the bays and rivers to 
spawn. They then return northward. These mackerel are not apt to take 
the hook, but are 'caught in weirs and seines, a practice tending to inevitable 
scarcity in the future. The j^arent fish come back, in September, to the local- 
ities where they have spawned, and, taking tlieir young in charge, proceed to 
the warmer waters west and south. Few if any mackerel spawn south of 
Cape Cod. 

By the time this migration occurs, the young fish have grown to six or 
seven inches in length, and are called "tinkers." They frequently take the 
bait with avidity, but are too small for market. When this school comes 
along, the fishermen prepare to follow, saying, " The mackerel are bound west, 
and we must work west with them."» These first -comers are usually fol- 
lowed by a second school of better size and quality. I have, often seen num- 
bers of young mackerel, of three to four inches in length, left in shallow pools 
upon the flats by the tide in midsummer. 

In the midst of a "biting school" no sport could be more exciting or sat- 
isfying. At such times the mackerel resemble famished wolves, snapping 
and crowding for the bait, rather than harmless fishes. This unexampled vo- 
racity makes them an easy prey, and they are taken as fast as the line can be 
thrown over. It not unfrequently happens that the school will either sink or 
suddenly refuse the bait, even while swarming about the sides of the vessels. 
This is vexatious, but there is no help for it. The fleet must lie idle until the 
capricious or overfed fish is hungry. 

Mackerel swim in deep water, and are brought to the surface by casting 
over quantities of ground bait. If they happen to be on the surface in a 
storm, at the first peal of thunder they will sink to the bottom. The move- 
ments of the fish in the water are like a gleam of light, and it dies hard when 
out of it. The mackerel was in great abundance when New England was 
first visited. 

In the confusion naturally incident to accounts of early discoveries on our 
coast of New England, it is pleasant to find one vantage-ground from which 
you can not be dislodged. In this respect Pemnquid stands almost alone. 
It has never been called by any other name. Possibly it may have embraced 



92 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 

either more or less of the surrounding territory or adjacent waters than at 
present; still there is eminent satisfaction in standing at Pemaquid on im- 
pregnable ground. 

In the minds of some old writers Pemaquid was unquestionably confound- 
ed with the Penobscot. There is a description of Pemaquid Kiver from the 
Hakluyt papers/ which makes it the easternmost river, one excepted^of Mavo- 
shen, manifestly a name erroneously applied, as the description is as far from 
coinciding with the true Pemaquid as is its location by Hakluyt. In this ac- 
count the Sagadahoc and town of Kennebec are also mentioned. Like many 
others, it is more curious than instructive. 

It also appears, to the student's dismay, that in some instances the discov- 
erers were apprehensive of drawing attention to any new-found port or har- 
bor, as it would render their monopoly of less value. The account of Wey- 
mouth's voyage by James Rosier omitted the latitude, doubtless Avith this 
object. His narrative, if not written to mislead, was confessedly not intend- 
ed to instruct. How is the historian to follow such a clue? Fortunately, 
after many puzzling and unsatisfactory conjectures, the account of William 
Strachey makes all clear, so far as Pemaquid is in question. Weymouth's 
first landfall was in 42°, and he coasted northward to 44°. Strachey speaks 
of "the isles and rivers, together with that little one of Pemaquid." 

Sir F. Gorges, in his " Brief Narration," mentions that " it pleased God " to 
bring Captain Weymouth, on his return in 1605, into the harbor of Plymoutli, 
where he, Sir Ferdinando, then commanded.^ Captain Weymouth, he contin- 
ues, had been dispatched by the Lord Arundel of Wardour in search of the 
North-west Passage, but falling short of his course, had happened into a river 
on the coast of America called Pemaquid. In the reprint of Sir F. Gorges's 
invaluable narrative^ the word Penobscot is j^laced after Pemaquid in brack- 
ets. It does not appear in the original. 

Pemaquid, then, becomes one of the pivotal points of New England dis- 
covery, as it subsequently was of her history. As the French had directed 
their early efforts toward the Penobscot, so the English had imbibed strong 
predilections for the Sagadahoc, or Kennebec. Weymouth and Pring had 
paved the way ; the Indians transported to England had been able to give 
an intelligible account of the country, the configuration of the coasts, the 
magnitude of the rivers, and power of the nations peopling the banks. 

The Kennebec was known to the French eai'lier than to the English, and 
by its jiroper name. Champlain's voyage in the autumn of 1604 extended, 
it is believed, as far as Monhegan, as he names an isle ten leagues from 
'"'' Quinehequi,^'' and says he went three or four leagues bej^ond it. Moreover, 



"Purchas," vol. iv., 1874. 

In 1G03 Gorges was deprived of the command, but had it restored to him the same year. 

"Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society," vol. vi., 3d series. 



PEMAQUID POINT. 93 

he had coasted both shores of the Penobscot bay, penetrating at least as far 
as the Narrows, below Bucksport. lie calls the Camden hills Bedabedec, 
and says the Kennebec and Penobscot Indians were at enmity. De Monts 
followed Champlain in June, 1605, having sailed from St. Croix two days 
after Weymouth's departure from the coast for England. He was more than 
two months in exploring a hundred and twenty leagues of sea-coast, visiting 
and observing the Kennebec, of which a straightforward story is told. Even 
then the river was known as a thoroughfare to Canada.' 

The mouth of the Kennebec is interesting as the scene of the third at- 
tempt to obtain a foothold on New England's soil. This was the colony of 
Chief -justice Popham, which arrived oif Monhegan in August, 1607.'' This 
undertaking was intended to be permanent. There were two well-provided 
ships, and a hundred and twenty colonists.^ The leader of the enterprise, 
George Popham, was accompanied by Captain Raleigh Gilbert, nephew and 
namesake of Sir Walter Raleigh. 

A settlement was effected on Hunnewell's Point, at the mouth of the Ken- 
nebec. The winter was one of unexampled severity, and the new-comevs had 
been late in preparing for it. Encountering privations similar to those after- 
ward endured by the Plymouth settlers, they lost courage, and when news 
of the death of their patron, the chief-justice, reached them, were ready to 
abandon the project. Popham, having died in February, was succeeded by 
Gilbert, whose affairs recalling him to England, the whole colony deserted 
their settlement at Fort St. George in the spring of 160S. Popham was the 
first Encflish ma2:istrate in New Enafland. 

Mather attributes the failure of attempts to colonize the parts of New 
England north of Plymouth to their being founded upon the advancement 
of worldly interests. "A constant series of disasters has confounded them," 
avers the witch-hating old divine. One minister, he says, was exhorting the 
eastern settlers to be more religions, putting the case to them much in this 
way, when a voice from the congregation cried out, " Sir, you are mistaken ; 
you think you are preaching to the people of the Bay. Our main end was to 
catch fish." 

" Did you ever see Cotton Mather's ' History of New England ?' — one of 
the oddest books I ever perused, but deeply interesting." The question is 
put by Southey, and I repeat it, as, if you have not read Mather's " Magnalia 
Christi Americana," you have not seen the corner-stone of New England his- 
torical and ecclesiastical literature. 

Apropos of the immigration into New England, it was openly bruited in 
England that King Charles I. would have been glad if the thousands who 
went over were drowned in the sea. Between the years 1628 and 1635 the 

' See Lescarbot, p. 497. '^ Strachey. Gorges says August 8th ; Smith, August lltli. 

' A fly-boat, the Gift of God, George Popham ; Mary and John, of London, Ralcigli Gilbert. 



94 



THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 



exodus was very great, and gave the king much displeasure. No one was 
permitted to remove without the royal permission. Even young Harry Vane 
had to solicit the good offices of his father, Sir Harry, to obtain a pass. He 

was then out of favor 
at court and at home, 
through his Geneva no- 
tions about kneeling to 
receive the Sacrament, 
and other Puritan ideas, 
"Let him go," growls an 
old writer; "has not Sir 
Harry other sons but 
him?" 

The colony of Pophara 
began better than it end- 
ed. A fort, doubtless no 
more than a ])alisade with 
platforms for guns, was 
marked out. A trench 
was dug about it, and 
twelve pieces of ordnance 
were mounted. Within 
its protection fifty houses, 
besides a church and store- 
house, were built. The 
carpenters framed a" pryt- 
ty pynnace" of thirty 
tons, which they chris- 
tened the Virgi7iia. There is no earlier record of ship-building in Maine. 

The tenacity of the English character has become proverbial. Neverthe- 
less, the opinion is hazarded that no nation so ill accommodates itself to a new 
country. The English colonies of Virginia, New England, and Jamaica are 
striking examples of barrenness of resource when confronted with unforeseen 
privations. The Frenchman, on the contrary, possesses in an eminent degree 
the capacity to adapt himself to strange scenes and nnaccustomed modes of 
life. Every thing is made to contribute to his wants. Let the reader con- 
sult, if he will, the campaign of the Crimea, where thousands of English sol- 
diers gave way to hardships unknown in the French camps. The elastic 
gayety of the one is in contrast with the gloomy despondency of the other. 
The Popham colony abandoned a well-matured, ably-seconded design through 
dread of a New England winter and through homesickness. Clearly it was 
not of the stuff to found a State. 

The previous winter was passed by the French at their new settlement of 




COTTON MATHER. 



PEMAQUID POINT. 95 

Port Royal, commenced within two years. The seasons of 1605 and of 1006 
were extremely rigorous. The colony of De Monts went through the first 
in rude cabins, hastily constructed, on the island of St. Croix. The next 
autumn the settlement was transferred to Port Koyal. Winter found them 
domiciled in their new quarters under no better roofs than they had quitted. 
Though their leader, Du Guast, had left them, they were animated by an irre- 
pressible spirit of fun, altogether French. They made roads through the 
forest, or joined with the Indians in hunting-parties, managing these native 
Americans with an address that won their confidence and good help. 




I "-^1- "^ --'^^M^'Wifr^*'iiiirrL/' 




-''Wi 



ANCIENT PEMAQUID. 

Finally, at the suggestion of Champlain, in order to keep up an unflagging 
good-fellowship, and to render themselves free of all anxiety on the subject of 
provisions, the ever-famous "L'Ordre de Bon Temps" was inaugurated. It 
is deserving of remembrance along with the coterie of the Knights of the 
Round Table. 

Once in fifteen days each member of the order officiated as maitre cVhotel 
of De Poutrincourt's table. It was his care on that day that his comrades 
should be well and honorably entertained ; and although, as the old chronicler 
quaintly says, "our gourmands often reminded us that we were not in the 
Hue aux Ours at Paris, yet so well was the rule observed that we ordinarily 
made as good cheer as we should have known how to do in the Mae aux 
Ours, and at less cost." 

There was not a fellow of the order who, two days before his turn came, 
did not absent himself until he could return w-ith some delicacy to add to 
their ordinary fare. They had always fish or flesh at breakfast, and were 
never without one or both at the repasts of noon and evening. It became 
their great festival. 

The steward, or maitre (Vhotel, having caused all things to be made ready, 
marched with his napkin on his shoulder, his stafl" of ofiice in his hand, and 
the collar of the order, that wo are told was Avorth more than four French 
crowns, about his neck. Behind him Avalked the brothers of the order, each 
one bearing his plate. In the evening, after giving thanks to God, the host 



96 



THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 



of the day resigned the collar to his successor, each pledging the other in a 
glass of wine. 

On such occasions they had always twenty or thirty savages — men, wom- 
en, and children — looking on. To these they gave bread from the table ; but 
when, as was often the case, the sagamores — those fierce, intractable barba- 
rians — presented themselves, they were, says Lescarbot, " at table eating and 
drinkino- like us, and we right glad to see them, as, on the contrary, their ab- 
sence would' have made us sorry." 

At Pemaquid we enter the domain of Samoset, that chivalric New En- 
o-lander whom historians delight to honor. He was a sagamore without 
o-uile. Chronologically speaking, he should first appear at Plymouth, in 
the act of offering to those doubting Pilgrims tlie right hand of fellowship. 
He told them he was sagamore of Morattigon, distant from Plymouth " a 

daye's sayle with a great 
wind, and five dayes by 
land." In 1623 he ex- 
tended a kindly recep- 
tion to Christopher Lev- 
ett, to whom he proffered 
a friendship, to continue 
until the Great Spirit car- 
ried them to his wigwam. 
All the old writers speak 
well of Samoset, whom 
we call a savage,^ 

I next visited the lit- 
tle point of land on which 
are the ruins of old Fort 
Frederick. Little diffi- 
culty is experienced in 
retracing the exterior 
and interior lines of a 
fortress designed as the 
strongest bulwark of En- 
glish power in New En- 
gland. It was built upon a green slope, above a rocky shore, commanding 
the approach from the sea ; but was itself dominated by the heights of the 
western shore of John's River, a circumstance that did not escape the notice 
of D'Iberville in 1696. At the south-east angle of the Avork is a high rock. 




' Samoset, in 1625, sold Pemaquid to John Brown. His sign-manual was a bended bow, with 
an arrow fitted to the string. The deed to Brown also fixes ths residence, at Pemaquid, of Abra- 
ham Shurt, agent of Elbridge and Aldworth, in the year 1626. 



PEMAQUID POINT. 97 

overgrown with a tangle of climbing vines and shrnbs. This rock formed a 
])art of the old magazine, and is now the conspicuous feature of the ruined 
fortress. A projecting spur of the opposite shore was called " the Barbican." 

The importance of Pemaquid as a check to French aggression was very 
great. It covered the approaches to the Kennebec, the Sheepscot, Damaris- 
cotta, and Pemaquid rivers. It was also, being at their doors, a standing men- 
ace against the Indian allies of the French, with a garrison ready to launch 
upon their villages, or intercept the advance of Avar parties towai'd the New 
England settlements. Its presence exasperated the Abenaquis, on whose ter- 
ritory it was, beyond measure : the French found them ever ready to second 
projects for its destruction. 

On the other hand, the remoteness of Pemaquid rendered it impracticable 
to relieve it when once invested by an enemy. Only a few feeble settlements 
skirted the sea-coast between it and Casco Bay, so the same causes combined 
to render it both weak and formidable. Old Pentagoet, which the reader 
knows for Castine, and Pemaquid, were the mailed hands of each nationality, 
always clenched ready to strike. 

The fort erected at Pemaquid in 1677, by Governor Andros, was a wooden 
redoubt mounting two guns, with an outwork having two bastions, in each 
of which were two great guns, and another at the gate.' This work was 
named Fort Charles. It was captured and destroyed by the Indians in 1689. 

Sir William Phips, under instructions from Whitehall, built a new fort at 
Pemaquid in 1692, which he called William Henry. Captains Wing and Ban- 
croft were the engineers, the work being completed by Captain March. ^ The 
English believed it impregnable. Mather, who says it was the finest that 
had been seen in those parts of America, has a significant allusion to the ar- 
chitect of a fortress in Poland whose eyes were put out lest he should build 
another such. From this vantage-ground the English, for the fifth time, ob- 
tained possession of Acadia. 

In the same year D'Iberville made a demonstration against it with two 
French frigates, but finding an English vessel anchored under the walls, aban- 
doned his design, to the chagrin of a large band of auxiliary warrioi-s who 
had assembled under Villebon, and who now vented their displeasure by 
stamping upon the ground. 

The reduction of Fort William Henry was part of a general scheme to 

' "New York Colonial Documents," vol. iii., p. 25G. Some primitive defensive works had ex- 
isted as early as 1G30, rifled in 1032 by the freebooter, Dixy Bull. 

'^ It was of stone ; a quadrangle seven hundred and thirty-seven feet in compass witliout the 
outer walls, one hundred and eight feet square within the inner ones ; pierced with embrasures for 
twenty-eight cannons, and mounting fourteen, six being eighteen-pounders. The south wall front- 
ing the sea was twenty-two feet high, and six feet thick at the ports. The great flanker, or round 
tower, at the west end of the line was twenty-nine feet high. It stood about a score of rods from 
high-water mark. — Mather, vol. ii., p. 587. 

7 



08 



THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 







FRENCH FRIGATE, SEVENTEENTH CENTURT. 



overrun and destroy the 
English settlements as 
^^ far as the Piscataqua. 
The English were fore- 
warned, John Nelson, 
of Boston, whose biog- 
raphy is worth the writ- 
ing, was then a prisoner 
at Quebec. Madocawan- 
do was also there, in 
consultation with Count 
Frontenac. The Abe- 
naqui chief, dissatisfied 
with his presents, gave 
open expression of his 
diso-iist at the niG;o;ard- 
liness of his white ally. 
Nelson was well ac- 
quainted with the Indian 
tongue. lie cajoled the chief into talking of his projects, and as soon as 
they were in his possession acted like a man of decision. lie bribed two 
Frenchmen — Arnaud du Yignon and Fi-ancis Albert — to carry the intelli- 
gen(;e to Boston. On their return to Canada both were shot, and Nelson was 
sent to France, where he became for five years an inmate of the Bastile. 

The life of John Nelson contains all the requisites of romance. Although 
an Episcopalian, he put himself at the head of the revolution against the tyr- 
anny of Andros. As a prisoner, he risked his own life to acquaint his country- 
men with the dangers that menaced them; and it is said he was even carried 
to the place of execution along with his detected messengers. The French 
called him " le plus audacieux et le plus acharne," in the design of conquering 
Canada. Released from the Bastile on his parole, after visiting England he 
returned to France to fulfill its conditions, although forbidden to do so by 
King William. A man of address, courage, and high sense of honor was 
this John Nelson. 

In 1696, a second and more successful expedition was conducted against 
Pemaquid. In August, D'Iberville' and Bonaventure sailed with the royal 
order to attack and reduce it. They called at Pentagoet, receiving there a 
re-enforcement of two hundred Indians, who embarked in their canoes, led by 
St. Castin. On the 13th the expedition appeared before the place, and the 
next day it was invested. 



' " D'Iberville, monseigneiir, est iin tres sage gar9on, entveprenant et qui scait ce qu'il fait."- 
M. Denonville. 



PEMAQUID POINT. 



99 




HUTCHINSON. 



Fort William Henry was then commanded by Captain Pascho Chubb, with 
a garrison of about a hundred men. Fifteen pieces of artillery were in posi- 
tion. The French expected an obstinate resistance, as the place was well able 
to withstand a siege. 

Chubb, on being summoned, returned a defiant answer. D'Iberville then 
began to erect his batteries. The account of 
Charlevoix states that the French got posses- 
sion of ten or twelve stone houses, forming a 
street leading from the village square to the 
fort. They then intrenched themselves, partly 
at the cellar- door of the house next the fort, 
and partly behind a rock on the sea-shore. A 
second demand made by St. Castin, accompa- 
nied by the threat that if the place were assault- 
ed the garrison might expect no quarter, de- 
cided the valiant Chubb, after a feeble and in- 
glorious defense, to surrender. The gates were 
opened to the besiegers. 

On finding an Indian in irons in the fortress, 
Castin's warriors began a massacre of the prisoners, which was arrested by 
their removal, at command of D'Iberville, to an island, where they were pro- 
tected by a strong guard from further violence. The name of William Henry 
has been synonymous with disaster to colonial strongholds. The massacre 
of 1757 at Lake George, forever infamous, obscures with blood the fair fame 
of Montcalm. The novelist Cooper, in making it the groundwork of his 
" Mohicans," has not overstated the horrors of the tragedy enacted by the 
placid St. Sacrament. 

Two days were occupied by the French in the destruction of Pemaquid 
fort. They then set sail for St. John's River, narrowly escaping capture by a 
fleet sent from Boston in pursuit. The French, who had before claimed to the 
Kennebec, subsequently established their boundary of Acadia at St. George's 
River. 

On the beach, below where the martello tower had stood, I discovered 
many fragments of bricks among the rock debris. Some of these were as larg^i 
as weve commonly used in the hearths of our most ancient houses. The arch 
by which the tower was perhaps supported remained nearly intact, though 
completely concealed by a thicket formed of interweaving shrubs. Some 
have conjectured it to have been a hiding-place of smugglers. Fra^'ments 
of shot and shell have likewise been picked up among the rubbish of the old 
fortress. Not far from the spot is a grave-yard, in which time and neglect 
have done their work. 

It has been attempted to show tliat a large and populous settlement ex- 
isted from a very early time at Pemaquid, with paved streets and some of 



LOFC 



100 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 

the belongings of a permanent population. Within a few years excavations 
have been made, exhibiting the remains of pavement of beach-pebble at some 
distance below the surface of the ground. 

It is not doubted that a small plantation was maintained here antecedent 
to the settlement in Massachusetts Bay, but it as certainly lacks confirmation 
that it had assumed either the proportions or outward appearance of a well 
and regularly built town at any time during the seventeenth century. If it 
were true, as Sullivan states, that in 1630 there were, exclusive of fishermen, 
eighty-four families about Sheepscot, Pemaquid, and St. George's, it also be- 
comes important to know by what means these settlements were depopulated 
previous to the Indian wars. 

The commissioners of Charles II., sent over in 1665, reported that upon the 
rivers Kennebec, Sheepscot, and Pemaquid were three plantations, the largest 
containing not more than thirty houses, inhabited, say they, " by the worst 
of men." The commissioners gave impartial testimony here, for they were 
trying to dispossess Massachusetts of the government she had assumed over 
Maine since 1652. They wrote further, that neither Kittery, York, Wells, 
Scarborough, nor Falmouth had more than thirty houses, and those mean ones. 
This was the entirety of the grand old Pine-tree State two centuries ago. 

Colonel Romer had recommended, about 1699, the fortifying anew of Pem- 
aquid, and the building of supporting works at the next point of land, and on 
John's Island. Nothing, however, appears to have been done until the ar- 
rival of Colonel David Dunbar, in 1730, to resume possession of the Sagada- 
hoc territory in the name of the crown. 

Dunbar repaired the old works, giving them the name of Fort Frederick. 
At Pemaquid Point he laid out the plan of a city which he divided into lots, 
inviting settlers to repopulate the country. Old grants and titles were con- 
sidered extinct. His possession at Pemaquid conflicting with the Muscougus 
patent was revoked through the efforts of Samuel Waldo. The garrison was 
replaced by Massachusetts troops, and the so-called Sagadahoc territory an- 
nexed to the County of York.' 

When in the neighborhood, the visitor will feel a desire to inspect the ex- 
tensive shell heaps of the Damariscotta, about a mile above the town of New- 
castle. They occur on a jutting point of land, in such masses as to resemble 
low chalk cliffs of guano deposits. The shells are of the oyster, now no long- 
er native in New England waters, but once abundant, as these and other re- 
mains testify. The highest point of the bank is twenty-five feet above the 
river. The deposits are rather more than a hundred rods in length, with a 

■ As it is inconsistent with the purpose and limits of these chapters to give the detail of char- 
ters, patents, and titles by which Pemaquid has acquired much historical prominence, the reader 
may, in addition to authorities named in the text, consult Thornton's "Ancient Pemaquid, " vol. v. 
"Maine Historical Collections;" Johnston's "Bristol, Bremen, and Pemaquid;" Hough's "Pem- 
aquid Papers," etc. 



PEMAQUID POINT. 101 

variable width of from eighty to a hundred rods. The shells lie in regidar 
layers, bleached by sun and weather. Among the many naturalists who 
have visited them may be named Dr. Charles T. Jackson/ and Professor Chad- 
bourne, of Bowdoin College. Some animal remains found among the shells 
were submitted to Agassiz, who concurred in the received opinion that the 
shells were heaped up by men. 

From point to point excavations have been made with the expectation of 
finding the Indian implements which have occasionally rewarded such inves- 
tigations. Williamson mentions a tradition that human skeletons had been 
discovered in these beds. The bones of animals and of birds have been found 
in them. Situated in the immediate vicinity of the shell deposits is a kiln for 
converting the shells into lime, which is produced of as good quality as that 
obtained from limestone rock. 

In walking along the beach at low tide, I had an excellent opportunity 
of surveying these remains. A considerable growth of trees had sprung 
from the soil collected above them, the roots of some having penetrated 
completely through the superincumbent shells to the earth beneath. From 
an observation of several cavities near the surface and in the sides of the 
oyster banks, the shells, in some instances, appear to have been subjected to 
fire. The entire stratum was in a state of decomposition that sufficiently at- 
tests the woi-k of years. Even those shells lying nearest the surface in most 
cases crumbled in ihe hands, while at a greater depth the closely- packed 
valves were little else than a heap of lime. 

The shell heaps are of common occurrence all along the coast. The read- 
er knows them for the feeding-places of the hordes preceding European civil- 
ization. Here they regaled themselves on a delicacy that disappeared when 
they vanished from the land. The Indians not only satisfied present hun- 
gei', but dried the oyster for winter consumption. Their summer camps M'ere 
pitched in the neighborhood of well-known oyster deposits, the squaws being 
occupied in gathering shell-fish, while the men were engaged in fishing or in 
hunting. 

Josselyn mentions the long-shelled oysters peculiar to these deposits. He 
notes them of nine inches in length from the "joint to the toe, that were to 
be cut in three pieces before they could be eaten." Wood professes to have 
seen them of a foot in length. I found many of the shells here of six inches 
in length. Winthrop alludes to the oyster banks of Mystic River, Massachu- 
setts, that impeded its navigation. During recent dredgings here oyster- 
shells of six to eight inches in length were frequently brought to the surface. 
The problem of the oyster's disappearance is yet to be solved.^ 

' While making his geological survey of Maine. 

^ Williamson mentions the heaps on the eastern bank, not so high as on the western, extend- 
ing back twenty rods from the river, and rendering the land useless. The shell heaps of Georgia 
and Florida are more extensive than any in New England. 



^^t^s3^m^^^^\ 





MONHEGAN ISLAND. 



CHAPTER VII. 

MONHEGAN ISLAND. 

" From gray sea-fog, from icy drift, 
From peril and from pain, 
The liome-bound fisher greets tliy lights, 
Oh hundred-harbored Maine!" 

Whittier. 

^T^HE most famous island you can find on the New England map is Monhe- 
•*- gau Island. To it the voyages of Weymouth, of Popham, and of Smith 
converge. The latter has put it down as one of the landmarks of our coast. 
Rosier calls it an excellent landfall. It is undoubtedly Monhegan that is 
seen on the oldest charts of New England. Champlain, with the same apt- 
ness and originality recognized in Mount Desert and Isle au Haut, names it 
La Tortue. Take from the shelf Bradford, Winthrop, Prince, or Hubbard, 
and you will find this island to figure conspicuously in their pages. Brad- 
ford says starving Plymouth was succored from Monhegan as early as 1622. 
The Boston colonists of 1630 were boai'ded when entering Salem by a Plym- 
outh man, going about his business at Pemaquid. English fishing ships hov- 
ered about the island for a dozen years before the Mayflov^er swung to her 
anchorage in the "ice-rimmed" bay. The embers of some camp-fire were al- 
ways smowldering there. 

Sailing once from Boston on a Penobscot steamboat, a few hours brought 
us up with Cape Ann. I asked the pilot for what land he now steered. 

" M'nhiggin." 

In returning, the boat came down through the Mussel Ridge Channel like 
a race-horse over a well-beaten course. We rounded Monhegan again, and 
then steered by the compass. Monhegan is still a landmark. 

A wintry passage is not always to be commended, especially when the 



MONHEGAN ISLAND. 



103 



Atlantic gets un- 
ruly. Leaving the 
Avliarf on one well- 
remembered occa- 
sion, we steamed 
down the bay in 
smooth water at 
fourteen miles an 
hour. All on board 
were in possession 
of their customa- 
ry equipoise. Soon 
the gong sounded 
a noisy summons 
to supper. "VVe 
descended. The 
cabin tables were 
quickly occupied 
by a merry com- 
pany of both sex- 
es. Tiiere was a 
clatter of plates 
and sharp click- 
ing of knives and 
forks ; waiters i-au 
hither and thither; 
tlie buzz of con- 
versation and rip- 
ple of suppressed 

laughter began to diffuse themselves with the good cheer, when, suddenly, 
the boat, mounting a sea, fell off into the trough with a measured movement 
that thrilled every victim of old Neptune to the marrow. 

It would be difficult to conceive a more instantaneous metamorphosis than 
that which now took place. Maidens who had been chatting or wickedly flirt- 
ing, laid down their knives and fork^ and turned pale as their napkins. Youths 
that were all smiles and attention to some adorable companion suddenly be- 
haved as if oblivious of her presence. Another plunge of the boat ! My vis- 
a-vis, an old gourmand, had intrenched himself behind a rampart of delicacies. 
He stops short inthe act of carving a fowl, and reels to the cabin stairs. Soon 
he has many followers. Wives are separated from husbands, the lover de- 
serts his mistress. A heavier sea lifts the bow, and goes rolling with gath- 
ered volume astern, accompanied by the crash of crockery and trembling of 
the chandeliers. That did the business. The commercial traveler who told 




THATCHEK S ISLAND LIGHT AND FOG SIGNALS, CAPE ANN. 



104 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 

me he was never sea-sick laid down the morsel he was in the act of convej^- 
ing to his mouth. He tried to look unconcerned as he staggered from tlie 
table, but it was a wretched failure. Two waiters, each bearing a well-laden 
tray, were sent sliding down the incline to the leeward side of the cabin, 
where, coming in crashing collision, they finally deposited their burdens in 
a berth in which some unfortunate was already reposing. All except a 
handful of well -seasoned voyagers sought the upper cabins, where they re- 
mained pale as statues, and as silent. The rows of deserted seats, unused 
plates, the joints sent away untouched, presented a melancholy evidence of 
the triumph of matter over mind. 

Early in the morning we made out Monhegan, as I have no doubt it was 
descried from the mast-head of the ArcJiangel, Weymouth's ship, two hun- 
dred and seventy years ago. The sea was shrouded in vapor, so that we saw 
the island long before the main-land was visible. Sea-faring people call it 
high land for this part of the world. 

Near the westward shore of the southern half of this remarkable island is 
a little islet, called Mananas, which forms the only harbor it can boast. Cap- 
tain Smith says, "Between Monahiggon and Monanis is a small harbour, where 
we rid." The entrance is considered practicable only from the south, though 
the captain of a coasting vessel pointed out where he had run his vessel 
through the ragged reefs that shelter the northern end, and saved it. It was 
a desperate strait, he said, and the by-standers shook their heads, in thinking 
on the peril of the attempt.* 

The inhabitants are hospitable, and many even well to do. Their harbor 
is providentially situated for vessels that are forced on the coast in heavy 
gales, and are able to reach its shelter. At such times exhausted mariners 
are sure of a kind reception, every house opening its doors to relieve their dis- 
tresses. Having all the requirements of snug harboring, excellent rock fishing, 
with room enough for extended rambling up and down, the island must one 
day become a i-esort as famous as the Isles of Shoals. At present there is a 
peculiar flavor of originality and freshness about the people, who are as yet 
free from the money-getting aptitudes of the recognized watering-place. 

George Weymouth made his anchorage under Monhegan on the 18th of 
May, 1605. "It appeared," says Rosier, "a mean high land, as we afterward 
found it, being an island of some six miles in compass, but, I hope, the most 
fortunate ever yet discovered. About twelve o'clock that day, we came to 

' Monhegan lies nine miles south of the George's group, twelve south-east from Pemaquid, and 
nine west of Metinic. It contains upward of one thousand acres of land. According to William- 
son, it had, in 1832, about one hundred inhabitants, twelve or fourteen dwellings, and a school- 
house. The able-bodied men were engaged in the Bank fishery ; the elders and boys in tending 
the flocks and tilling the soil. At that time there was not an officer of any kind upon tlie island ; 
not even a justice of the peace. The people governed themselves according to local usage, and 
we're strangers to taxation. A light-house was built on the island in 1824. 



MONHEGAN ISLAND. 105 

an anchor on the north side of this island, about a league from the shore. 
About two o'clock our captain Avith twelve men rowed in his ship-boat to 
the shore, where we made no long stay, but laded our boat with dry wood 
of old trees upon the shore si<le, and returned to our ship, where we i-ode 
that night." * * * 

"This island is woody, grown with fir, birch, oak, and beech, as far as we 
saw along the shore; and so likely to be within. On the verge grow goose- 
berries, strawberries, wild pease, and wild rose - bushes. The water issued 
forth down the cliffs in many places; and much fowl of divers kinds breeds 
upon the shore and rocks." 

The main-land possessed greater attraction for Weymouth. Thinking his 
anchorage insecure, he brought his vessel the next day to the islands " more 
adjoining to the main, and in the road directly with the mountains, about 
three leagues from the island where he had first anchored." 

I read this description while standing on the deck of the Katahdln^ and 
found it to answer admirably the conditions under which I then surveyed the 
land. We were near enough to make out the varied features of a long line 
of sea-coast stretching northward for many a mile. There were St. George's 
Islands, three leagues distant, and more adjoining to the main. And there 
were the Camden Mountains in the distance.' 

Weymouth landed at Pemaquid, and traded with the Indians there. In 
order to impress them with the belief that he and his comrades were super- 
natural beings, he caused his own and Hosier's swords to be touched with the 
loadstone, and then with the blades took up knives and needles, much mys- 
tifying the simple savages with his jugglery. It took, however, six Avhites 
to capture two of the natives, unarmed and thrown off their guard by feigned 
friendship. 

But one compensation can be found for Weymouth's treachery in kidnap- 
ing five Indians here, and that is in the assertion of Sir F. Gorges that this 
circumstance first directed his attention to New England colonization. At 
least two of the captive Indians found their way back again. One retnrned 
the next year; another — Skitwarres — came over with Popham. A strange 
tale these savages must have told of their adventures beyond seas.^ 

Some credence has been given to the report of the existence of a rock 
inscription on Monhegan Island, supposed by some to be a reminiscence 

' A good many arguments may be found in the " Collections of the Maine Historical Society" 
as to whether Weymouth ascended the Penobscot or the Kennebec. All assume Monhegan to 
have been the first island seen. This being conceded, the landmarks given in the text follow, 
without reasonable ground for controversy. 

^ In 1607 Weymouth was granted a pension of three shillings and fourpence per diem. Smith 
was at Monhegan in 1G14, Captain Dermer in l(;i9, and some mutineers from Kocroft's ship had 
passed the winter of 1G18-'19 there. The existence of a small plantation is ascertained in 1G22. 
In 1G2G the island was sold to Giles Elbridge and Robert Aldworth for fifty pounds. 



106 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 

of the Northmen. The Society of Northern Antiquaries of Copenhagen has 
reproduced it in their printed proceedings. The best informed American 
antiquaries do not believe it to possess any arch?eological significance. I 
also heard of another of the "devil's foot-prints" on Mananas, but did not 
see it. 

Between Monhegan and Pemaquid Point was the scene of the sea-fight 
between the Enterprise and Boxer. Some of the particulars I shall relate I 
had of eye-witnesses of the battle. 

In September, 1814, the American brig Enterprise quitted Portsmouth 
roads. She had seen service in the wars with the French Directory and 
with Algiers. She had been rebuilt in 1811, and had already gained the 
name of a lucky vessel. Her cruising-ground was along the Maine coast, 
where a sharp lookout was to be kept for privateers coming out of the ene- 
my's ports. In times past her commanders wei'e such men as Sterrett, Hull, 
Decatur, and Blakely, in whom was no more flinching than in the mainmast. 

Lieutenant Burrows, who now took her to sea, had been first officer of a 
merchant ship and a prisoner to the enemy. As soon as exchanged he was 
given the command of the Enterprise. He was a good seaman, bound up in 
his profession, and the darling of the common sailors. Taciturn and misan- 
thropic among equals, he liked to disguise himself in a pea-jacket and visit 
the low haunts of his shipmates. It was believed he would be killed sooner 
than surrender. 

The Boxer had been fitted out at St. Johns with a view of meeting and 
fighting the Enterprise. Every care that experience and seamanship could 
suggest had been bestowed upon her equipment. She was, moreover, a new 
and strong vessel. In armament and crews the two vessels were about equal, 
the inferioi-ity, if any, being on the side of the American. The two brigs were, 
in fact, as equally matched as could well be. They were prepared, rubbed 
down, and polished off, like pugilists by their respective trainers. They were 
in quest of each other. The conquered, however, attributed their defeat to 
every cause but the true one, namely, that of being beaten in a fair fight on 
their favorite element. 

The Boxer., after worrying the fishermen, and keeping the sea-coast vil- 
lages in continual alarm, dropped anchor in Pemaquid Bay on Saturday, Sep- 
tember 4th, 1814. There was then a small militia guard in old Fort Freder- 
ick. The inhabitants of Pemaquid Point, fearing an attack, withdrew into 
the woods, where they heard at- evening the music played on board the ene- 
my's cruiser. 

The next morning, a peaceful Sabbath, the lookout of the Boxer made out 
the Enterprise coming down from the westward with a fiiir wind. In an in- 
stant the Briton's decks were alive with men. Sails were let fall and sheet- 
ed home with marvelous quickness, and the Boxer^ with every rag of canvas 
spread, stood out of the bay. From her anchorage to the westward of Johri's 



MONHEGAN ISLAND. 



107 



Island, the Boxer, as she got under way, threw several shot over the island 
into tlie fort by way of farewell. Both vessels bore off the land about three 
miles, when they stripped to fighting canvas. The American, being to vvind- 
M'ard, had the weather-gage, and, after taking a good look at her antagonist, 
brought her to action at twenty minutes past three o'clock in the afternoon. 
Anxious spectators crowded the shores ; but after the first broadsides, for the 
forty minutes the action continued, nothing could be seen except the flashes 
of the guns ; both vessels were enveloped in a cloud. At length the firing 
slackened, and it was seen the Boxer's maintop-mast had been shot away. 
The battle was decided. 

This combat, which proved fatal to both commanders, M'as, for the time it 
lasted, desperately contested. The Enterprise returned to Portland, with the 
Boxer in company, on the Vth. The bodies of Captain Samuel Blythe, late 
commander of the English brig, and of Lieutenant William Burrows, of the 
Enterprise, were brouglit on shore draped with the flags each had so bravely 
defended. The same honoi's were paid the remains of each, and they were in- 
terred side by side in the cemetery at Portland. Blythe had been one of 
poor Lawrence's pall-bearers. • 




GKAVKS OF BUUKOWS AND BLYTHE, PORTLAND. 

This was the first success that had befallen the American navy since the 
loss of the Chesapeake. It revived, in a measure, the confidence that disaster 
had shaken. The Boxer went into action with her colors nailed to the mast — 
a useless bravado that no doubt cost many lives. Her ensign is now among 
the trophies of the Naval Academy at Annapolis, while that of the Enter- 
prise has but lately been reclaimed from among the forgotten things of the 



108 



THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 



past, to nrrny its tnttorod iolils beside the Hags of tlio Bonhomme Richard 
iiiul (^f Foi-t i'M'llenry.' 

Amoiiu; the reeollections of his " Lost Youth," the autiior of "Evangeline," 
a native of Porthuul, tells us: 

"I romeiiibor tho scn-fight far nwtiy, 
llmv it thundered o'or tlie tide! 
And the dead eaptains, as tliey hiy 
In their graves o'erlooking the tranquil bay, 
Where they in battle died." 

* This flag inspired the national lyric, "The Star-spangled Banner," 




BURROWS S MED.U.. 




GOEGE. B.iXD FT. ^T> CLITF. 



CHAPTEK VIIL 

FEOil WELLS TO OLD TOEK. 

"A shipman was there, wonned far by west; 
For aught I wot, he was of Danemomh." 

Chaccek- 

OXE hot, slamberous morning in August I found myself in the town of 
Wells. I was traveling, as Xew England ought to be traversed by ev- 
ery young man of average health and active habits, on foot, and at leisure, 
along the beautiful road to Old York Xow Wells, as Victor Hugo says of 
a village in Brittany, is not a town, but a street, stretching for five or six 
miles along the shore, and everywhere commanding an extensive and un- 
broken ocean view. 



110 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 

The place itself, though bristling with history, has been stripped of its 
antiques, and is in appearance the counterpart of a score of neat, thrifty vil- 
lages of my acquaintance. I paused for a moment at the site of the Storer 
garrison, in which Captain Converse made so manful a defense when Fi-on- 
tenao, in 1692, let slip his French and Indians on bur border settlements.' 
Some fragments of the timbers of the garrison are preserved in the vicinitv, 
one of which I saw among the collections of a village antiquary. In the an- 
nals of Wells the names of John Wheelwright and of George Burroughs oc- 
cur, the former celebrated as the founder of Exeter, the latter a victim of the 
witchcraft horror of '92. 

John Wheelwright, the classmate and friend of Cromwell, fills a large 
space in the early history of the Bay Colony. A fugitive, like John Cotton, 
from the persecutions of Laud, he came to Boston in 1636, and became the 
pastor of a church at Braintree, then forming part of Boston. He was the 
brother-in-law of the famous Ann Hutchinson, who Avas near creating a revo- 
lution in Winthrop's government,'' and shared her Antinoraian opinions. For 
this he was banished, and became the founder of Exeter in 1638. In 1643, 
Massachusetts having claimed jurisdiction over that town. Wheelwright re- 
moved to Wells, where he remained two years. Becoming reconciled to the 
Massachusetts government, he removed to Hampton, was in England in 1657, 
returning to New England in 1660. He became pastor of the church in Salis- 
bury, and died there in 1679; but the place of his burial, Allen says, is not 
known. He was the oldest minister in tlie colony at the time of his death, 
and a man of pronounced character. The settlement of the island of Rhode 
Island occurred through the removal of William Coddington and others at 
the same time, and for the same reasons that caused the expulsion of Wheel- 
wright from Boston, as Roger Williams had been expelled from Salem seven 
years before. 

"Wheelwright's Deed" has been the subject of a long and animated con- 
troversy among antiquaries ; some, like Mr. Savage, pronouncing it a forgery 
because it is dated in 1629, the year before the settlement of Boston. This 
deed was a conveyance from the Indian sagamores to Wheelwright of the 
land on which stands the flourishing town of Exeter; and although copies of 
it have been recorded in several places, the original long ago disappeared. 
Cotton Mather, who saw it, testifies to its appearance of antiquity, and the 
advocates of its validity do not appear as yet to have the worst of the argu- 
ment.^ 

' Colonel Storer kept up the stockades and one or more of the flankarts until after the j'ear 
1760, as a memorial rather than a defense. 

'■^ This relationship is disputed by Mr. Joseph L. Chester, the eminent antiquary. Winthrop, it 
would seem, ought to have known ; Eliot and Allen repeat the authority, the latter giving the full 
name of Mary Hutchinson. 

' Both sides have been ably presented by Dr. N. Bouton and Hon. Charles H. Bell. 



FROM WELLS TO OLD YORK. HI 

George Burroughs, who fell fighting agahist terrorism on Gallows Hill — 
a single spot may claim in New England the terrible distinction of this name 
— was, if tradition saj's truly, apprehended by officers of the Bloody Council 
at the church door, as he was leaving it after divine service. A little dark 
man, and an athlete, whose muscular strength was turned against him to fa- 
tal account. An Indian, at F'almouth, had held out a heavy fowling-piece at 
arms -length by simply thrusting his finger in at the muzzle. Poor Bur- 
roughs, who would not stand by and see an Englishman outdone by a red- 
skin, repeated the feat on the spot, and this was the most ruinous piece of 
evidence brought forth at his trial. A man could not be strong then, or the 
devil was in it. 

The road was good, and the way plain. As the shores are for some miles 
intersected by creeks intrenched behind sandy downs, the route follows a 
level shelf along the high land. There are pleasant strips of beach, where 
the sea breaks noiselessly when the wind is off shore, but where it comes 
thundering in when driven before a north-east gale. Now and then a vessel 
is embayed here in thick weather, or, failing to make due allowance for the 
strong drift to the westward, is set bodily on these sands, as the fishermen 
say, "all standing." While I was in the neighborhood no less than three 
came ashore within a few hours of each other. The first, a timber vessel, 
missing her course a little, went on the beach ; but at the next tide, by carry- 
ing an anchor into deep water and kedging, she was floated again. Another 
luckless craft struck on the rocks within half a mile of the first, and became 
a wreck, the crew owing their lives to a smooth sea. The third, a Bank 
fisherman, was left by the ebb high up on a dangerous reef, with a hole in 
her bottom. She was abandoned to the underwriters, and sold for a few dol- 
lars. To the surprise even of the knowing ones, the shrewd Yankee who 
bought her succeeded at low tide in getting some empty casks into her hold, 
and brought her into port. 

Notwithstanding these sands are hard and firm as a granite floor, they are 
subject to shiftings which at first appear almost unaccountable. Many years 
^go, while sauntering along the beach, I came across the timbers of a strand- 
ed vessel. So deeply were they imbedded in the sand, that they had the ap- 
pearance rather of formidable rows of teeth belonging to some antique sea- 
monster than of the work of human hands. How long the wreck had lain there 
no one could say ; but at intervals it disappeared beneath the sands, to come 
to the surface again. I have often walked over the spot where it la}' buried 
out of sight; and yet, after the lapse of years, there it was again, like a grave 
that would not remain closed. 

A few years ago, an English vessel, the Clotilde, went ashore on Wells 
Beach, and remained there high and dry for nearly a year. She was deeply 
laden with railway iron, and, after being relieved of her cargo, was success- 
fully launched. During the time the ship lay on the beach, she became so 



112 



THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 



a 




OLD WRECKS ON THE BEACH. 



deeply buried in the sand that a person might walk on board without diffi- 
culty. Ways were built underneath her, and, after a terrible Avrenching, she 
was got afloat. Heavy objects, such as kegs of lead paint, and even i:)igs of 
iron, have been exposed by the action of the waves, after having, in some in- 
stances, been twenty years under the surface. I have picked up whole bricks, 
lost overboard from some coaster, that have come ashore with their edges 
smootlily rounded by the abrasion of the sand and sea. There is an authen- 
tic account of the re- appearance of a wrecked ship's caboose more than a 
hundred and seventy years after her loss on Cape Cod. After a heavy east- 
erly gale, the beach is always sprinkled with a fine, dark gravel, which disajD- 
pears again with a few days of ordinary weather. 

Besides being the inexhaustible resource of summer idlers, the beach has 
its practical aspects. The sand, fine, white, and " sharp," is not only used by 
builders — and there is no fear of exhausting the supply — but is hauled away 
by farmers along shore, and housed in their barns as bedding for cattle, or to 
mix with heavy soils. The sea-weed and kelp that comes ashore in such vast 
quantities after a heavy blow is carefully harvested, and goes to enrich the 
lands with its lime and salt. It formerly supplied the commercial demand 
for soda, and was gathered on the coasts of Ireland, Scotland, France, and 
Spain for the purpose. It is the varec of Brittany and Normandy, tlie blan- 
quette of Frontignan and Aigues-mortes, and the salicor of Narbonne. After 
being dried, it was I'educed to ashes in rude furnaces. Iodine is also the 
product of sea-weed. You may sometimes see at high-water mark winrows 
of Irish moss {carrageen) bleaching in the sun, though for my blanc-mange I 
give the preference to that cast up on the shingle, as more free from sand. 
This plant grows only on the farthest ledges. The pebble usually heaped 
above the line of sand, or in little coves among the ledges, is used for ballast, 
and for mending roads and garden-walks. Turning to the sandy waste that 



FROM WELLS TO OLD YORK. 113 

skirts the beach, I seldom fail of finding the beach-pea, with its beautiful blos- 
soms of blue and purj)le. In spring the vine is edible, and has been long 
used for food by the poorer people. 

The beach is much frequented after a storm by crows in quest of a dinner 
alfresco. They haunt it as persistently as do the wreckers, and seldom tail 
of finding a stranded fish, a crab, or a mussel. They are the self-ap])ointed 
scavengers of the strand, removing much of the offal cast up by the sea. The 
'crow is a crafty fellow, and knows a thing or two, as I have had reason to 
observe. The large sea-mussel is mucli affected by him, and when found is 
at once pounced upon. Taking it in his talons, the crow flies to the nearest 
ledge of rocks, and, calculating his distance with mathematical eye, lets his 
prize fall. Of course the mussel is dashed in pieces, and the crow proceeds 
to make a frugal meal. I have seen this operation frequently repeated, and 
liave as often scared tlie bird from his repast to convince myself of his suc- 
cess. 

His method of taking the clam is equally ingenious. He walks upon the 
clam-bank at low tide, and seizes upon the first unlucky head he finds pro- 
truding from the shell. Then ensues a series of laughable efforts on the crow's 
pan to rise with his prey, while the clam tries in vain to draw in its head. 
The crow, after many sharp tugs and much flapping of his wings, finall)^ se- 
cures the clam, and disposes of him as he would of a mussel. The Indians, 
whose chief dependence in summer was upon shell-fish, complained tliat the 
English swine watched the receding tide as their women were accustomed to 
do, feeding on the clams they turned up with their snouts. 

In the olden time the beach was the high-road over which the settlers 
traveled when, as Avas long the case, it was their only way of safety. It was 
often beset with danger; so much so that tradition says tlie mail from Ports- 
mouth to Wells was for seven years brought by a dog, the pouch being at- 
tached to his collar. This faithful messenger was at last killed by the sav- 
ages. ' For miles around this bay tlie long-abandoned King's Highway may 
be traced where it hugged the verge of the shore, climbing the roughest 
ledges, or crossing from one beach to another by a strip of shingle. Here 
and there an old cellar remains to identify its course and tell of the stern 
lives those pioneers led. 

When the tide is out, I also keep at low-water mark, scrambling over 
ledges, or delving among the crannies for specimens. It does not take long 
to fill your pockets with many-hued pebbles of quartz, jasper, or porphyry 
that, in going a few rods fai'ther, you are sure to reject for others more brill- 
iant. At full sea I walk along the shore, where, from between those envi- 
ous little stone walls, I can still survey the Unchanged. 

After all that has been printed since the "Tractatus Petri Hispani," it is 
a question whether there are not as many popular superstitions to-day among 
plain New England country-folk as at any time since the settlement of the 

8 



11 i THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 

country. The belief in the virtue of a horseshoe is unabated. At York I 
8aw one nailed to the end of a coaster's bowsprit. To spill salt, break a look- 
ing-glass, or dream of a white horse, are still regarded as of sinister augury. 
A tooth-i)ick made from a splinter of a tree that has been struck by lightning- 
is a sui-e preventive of the toothache. Exceeding all these, however, is the 
generally accepted superstition that has led to the practice of bathing on 
Saco Beach on the 26th of June in each year. On this day, it is religiously 
believed that the waters, like SUoatn of old, have miraculous power of healins* 
all diseases witli which humanity is afflicted. The j)eople flock to the beach 
from all llie country round, in every description of vehicle, to dip in the en- 
chanted tide. A similar belief existed with regard to a medicinal spring on 
the River Dee, in Scotland, called Januarich Wells, one author gravely assert- 
ing that so great was the faith in its efficacy that those afflicted with broken 
legs have gone there for restoration of the limb. 

I have found it always impracticable to argue with the pilgrims as to the 
grounds of their belief. They are ready to recount any number of wonder- 
ful cures at too great a distance for my investigation to reach, and may not, 
therefore, be gainsaid. It is a custom. 

All this time I was nearing Ogunquit, a little fishing village spliced to 
the outskirts of Wells, being itself within the limits of York. At my right 
I caught a glimpse of the green bulk of Mount Agamenticus, and on the oth- 
er hand, almost at my elbow, was the sea. So we marched on, as it were, arm 
in arm ; for I was beginning to feel pretty well acquainted with a companion 
that ke])t thus constantly at my side. This morning it was Prussian blue, 
which it ])resently put off for a warmer hue. There it lay, sunning itself, 
cool, silent, impenetrable, like a great blue turquoise on the bare bosom of 
Mother Earth, nor looking as if a little ruffling of its surface could put it in 
such a towering passion. 

My sachel always contains a luncheon, a book, and a telescopic drinking- 
cup. At noon, having left eight miles of road behind me, I sought the shel- 
ter of a tree by the roadside, and found my appetite by no means impaired 
by the jaunt. At such a time I read, like Rousseau, while eating, in default 
of a tete-a-tete. I alternately devour a page and a piece. While under my 
tree, a cow came to partake of the shade, of which there was enough for both 
of us. She gazed at me with a calm, but, as I conceived also, a puzzled look, 
ruminating meanwhile, or stretching out her head and snuffing the air within 
a foot of my hand. Perhaps she was wondering whether I had two stomachs, 
and a tail to brush off the flies. 

From the village of Ogunquit there are two roads, I chose the one which 
kept the shore, in order to take in my way Bald Head Cliff, a natural curios- 
ity well worth going some distance to see. The road so winds across the 
rocky waste on which the village is in part built that in some jjlaces you al- 
most double on your own footsteps. Occasionally a narrow lane issues from 



FROM WELLS TO OLD YORK. 115 

among the ledges, tumbling rather than descending to some little cove, where 
you catch a glimpse of brovvn-i'oofed cottages and a fishing-boat or two, sniig- 
ly moored. The inhabitants say there is not enough soil in Ogunquit with 
which to repair the roads, a statement no one who tries it with a vehicle will 
be inclined to dispute. Literally the houses are built upon rocks, incrusted 
with yellow lichens in room of grass. Wherever a dip occurs through whicli 
a little patch of blue sea peeps out, a house is posted, and I saw a few care- 
fully-tended garden spots among hollows of the rock in which a handful of 
mould had accumulated. The wintry aspect is little short of desolatiDU : 
in storms, from its elevation and exposure, the place receives the full shock 
of the tempest, as you may see by the weather-stained appearance of the 
houses. 

A native directed me by a short cut "how to take another ox-bow out of 
the road," and in a few minutes I stood on the brow of the cliff. What a 
sight ! The eye spans twenty miles of sea horizon. Wells, with its white 
meeting-houses and shore hotels, was behind me. Far up in the bight of the 
bay Great Hill headland. Hart's and Gooch's beaches — the latter mere rib- 
bons of white sand — gleamed in the sunlight. Kennebunkport and its ship- 
yards lay beneath yonder smoky cloud, with Cape Porpoise Light beyond. 
There, below me, looking as if it had floated off from the main, was the barren 
rock called the Nubble, the farthest land in this direction, with Cape Neddock 
harbor in full view. All the rest was ocean. The mackerel fleet that I had 
seen all day — fifty sail, sixty, yes, and more — was off Boon Island, with their 
jibs down, the solitary gray shaft of the light -house standing grimly up 
among the white sails, a mile-stone of the sea. 

There are very few who would be able to approach the farthest edge of 
the precipice called the Pulpit, and bend over its sheer face without a quick- 
ening of the pulse. As in all these grand displays in which Nature puts forth 
her powers, you shrink in proportion as she exalts herself. For the time being, 
at least, the conceit is taken out of you, and you are thoroughly put down. 
Here is a perpendicular wall of rock ninety feet in height (as well as I could 
estimate it), and about a hundred and fifty in length, with a greater than Ni- 
agara raging at its foot — a rock buttress, with its foundations deeply root- 
ed in the earth, breasting off the Atlantic ; and the massy fragments lying 
splintered at its base, or heaved loosely about the summit, told of many a 
desperate wrestling-match, with a constant gain for the old athlete. The 
sea is gnawing its way into the coast slowly, but as surely as the cataract 
is approaching the lake; and the cliflf, though it may for a thousand years 
oppose this terrible battering, will at last, like some sea fortress, crumble 
before it. 

Underneath the cliflT is one 5f those curious basins hollowed out almost 
with the regularity of art, in which a vessel of large tonnage might be float- 
ed. On the farther side of this basin, the ledges, though jagged and wave- 



116 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 

worn, descend with regular incline, making a sort of platform. On the top 
of the cliif the rock debris and line of soil show unmistakably that in severe 
gales the sea leaps to this great height, drenching the summit with salt spray. 
At such a time the sea must be superb, though awful ; for I doubt if a human 
being could stand erect before such a storm. 

The exposed side of Bald Head Cliff faces south of east, and is the result 
of ages of wear and tear. The sea undermines it, assails it in front and from 
all sides. Here are dikes, as at Star Island, in which the trap-rock has given 
way to the continual pounding, thus affording a vantage-ground for the great 
lifting power of the waves. The strata of rock lie in perpendicular masses, 
welded together as if by fire, and injected with crystal quartz seams, knotted 
like veins in a Titan's forehead. Blocks of granite weighing many tons, 
honey-combed by the action of the water, are loosely piled Avhere the cliff 
overhangs the waves; and you may descend by regular steps to the verge 
of the abyss. The time to inspect this curiosity is at low tide, when, if there 
be sea enough, the waves come grandly in, whelming the shaggy rocks, down 
whose sides a hundred miniature cascades pour as the waters recede. 

Beneath the cliff the incoming tides have worn the trap-rock to glassy 
smoothness, rendering it difficult to walk about when tliey are wetted by the 
spray. From this stand-point it is apparent the wall that rises before you is 
the remaining side of one of those chasms which the sea has driven right into 
the heart of the crag. The other face is what lies scattered about on all sides 
in picturesque ruin. If the view from the summit was invigorating, the sit- 
uation below was far from inspiring. It needed all the cheerful light and 
warmth the afternoon sun could give to brighten up that bleak and rugged 
shore. The spot had for me a certain sombre fascination ; for it was here, 
more than thirty years ago, the Isidore, a brand-new vessel, and only a few 
hours from port, was lost with every soul on board. Often have I heard the 
tale of that winter's night from relatives of the ill-fated ship's crew; and as I 
stood here within their tomb, realizing the hopelessness of human effort when 
opposed to those merciless crags, I thought of Schiller's lines: 

" Oh many a bark to that breast grappled fast 

Has gone clown to the fearful and fatliomless grave; 
Again, crashed together the keel and the mast, 

To be seen tossed aloft in the glee of tlie wave I 
Like- the growth of a storm, ever louder and clearer, 
Grows the roar of the gulf rising nearer and nearer." 

Over there, where the smoke lies above the tree-tops, is Kennebunkport,' 
where they build as staunch vessels as float on any sea. The village and its 
sliip-yards lie along the banks of a little river, oi*, more properly speaking, an 
arm of the sea. It is a queer old place, or rather was, before it became trans- 

' Once, and much better, Arundel, from the Earl of Arundel. 



FROM WELLS TO OLD YORK. 117 

]ated into a summer resort; but now silk jostles homespun, and for three 
months in the year it is invaded by an army of pleasure-seekers, who ransack 
its secret places, and after taking their fill of sea and shore, flee before the 
first frosts of autumn. The town then hibernates. 

The Isidore was built a few miles up river, where the stream is so narrow 
and crooked that you can scarce conceive how ships of any size could be suc- 
cessfully launched. At a point below the "Landing" the banks are so near 
together as to admit of a lock to retain the full tide when a launch took place. 
A big ship usually brings up in the soft ooze of the opposite bank, but is got 
oflTat the next flood by the help of a few yoke of oxen and a strong hawser. 
Besides its ship-building, Kennebunkport once boasted a considerable com- 
merce with the West Indies, and the foundations of many snug fortunes have 
been laid in rum and sugar. The decaying wharves and empty warehouses 
now tell their own story. 

I was one afternoon at the humble cottage of a less ancient, though more 
coherent, mariner than Coleridge's, who, after forty years battling with storms, 
was now laid up like an old hulk that will never more be fit for sea. Togeth- 
er we rehearsed the first and last voyage of the Isidore. 

" Thirty years ago come Thanksgiving," said Ben, in a voice pitched be- 
low his usual key, "the Isidore lay at the wharf with her topsails loose, wait- 
ing for a slant of wind to put to sea. She was named for the builder's daugh- 
ter, a miglity pretty gal, sir; but the boys didn't like the name because it 
sounded outlandish-like, and would have rather had an out-an'-out Yankee 
one any day of the week." 

" There is, then," I suggested, " something in a name at sea as well as 
ashore ?" 

"Lor' bless your dear soul, I've seen them barkeys as could almost ship a 

crew for nothing, they had such spanking, saucy names. Captain R was 

as good a sailor as ever stepped, but dretful profane. He was as brave as a 
lion, and had rescued the crew of an Englishman from certain death while 
drifting a helpless wreck before a gale. No boat could live in the sea that 

was running; but Captain R bore down for the sinking ship, and passed 

it so close that the crew saved themselves by jumping aboard of him. Seven 
or eiglit times he stood for that wreck, until all but one man were saved. He 
had the ill-luck afterward to get a cotton ship ashore at Thi'ee Acres, near 
where the Isidore was lost, and said, as I've heard, 'he hoped the next ves- 
sel that went ashore he should be under her keel.' He had his wish, most 
likely. 

" The Isidore was light, just on top of water, and never ought to have 
gone to sea in that plight ; but she had been a good wliile wind-bound, and" 
all hands began to be impatient to be ofl". Her crew, fifteen as likely lads as 
ever reefed a topsail, all belonged in the neighborhood. One of 'em didn't 
feel noways right about the v'y'ge, and couldn't make up his mind to go un- 



118 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 

til the ship was over the bar, when he had to be set aboard in a wherry. 
Another dreamed three nights running the same dream, and every blessed 
time he saw the Isidore strike on a lee shore with the sea a-tlying as high as 
the maintop. Every time he woke up in a cold sweat, with the cries of his 
shipmates ringing in his ears as plain as we hear the rote on Gooch's Beach 
this minute. So, when the Isidore set her colors and dropped down the river, 
Joe, though he had signed the articles and got the advance, took to the 
M'oods. Most every body thought it scandalous for the ship to unmoor, but 

Captain 11 said he would go to sea if he went to h — 1 the next minute. 

Dretful profane man, sir — dretful. 

"The weather warn't exactly foul weather, and the sea was smooth 
enough, but all the air there was was dead ahead, and it looked dirty to 
wind'ard. The ship slipped out through the piers, and stood off to the east- 
'ard on the port tack. I recollect she was so nigh the shore that I could see 
who was at the wheel. She didn't work handy, for all the ropes were new 
and full of turns, and I knew they were having it lively aboard of her. Early 
in the afternoon it began to snow, first lightly, then thick and fast, and the 
wind began to freshen up considerable. The ship made one or two tacks to 
Avork out of the bay, but about four o'clock it closed in thick, and we lost 
her. 

" I saw the Nubble all night long, for the snow come in gusts ; but it 
blowed fresh from the no'th-east ; fresh^'' lie repeated, raising his eyes to mine 
and shaking his gray head by way of emphasis. "I was afeard the ship was 
in the bay, and couldn't sleep, but went to the door and looked out between 
whiles." 

It was, indeed, as I have heard, a dreadful night, and many a vigil w^as 
kept by wife, mother, and sweetheart. At day-break the snow lay heaped in 
drifts in the village streets and garden areas. It was not long before a mes- 
senger came riding in at full speed with the news that the shores of Ogun- 
quit were fringed with the wreck of a large vessel, and that not one of her 
crew was left to tell the tale. The word passed from house to house. Si- 
lence and gloom reigned within the snow-beleaguered village. 

It was supposed the ship struck about midnight, as the Ognnquit fisher- 
men heard in their cabins cries and groans at this hour above the noise of 
the tempest. They were powerless to aid ; no boat could have been launch- 
ed in that sea. If any lights were shown on board the ship, they were not 
seen ; neither were any guns heard. The ropes, stiffened with ice, would not 
run through the sheaves, which rendered the working of the ship difficult, 
if not impossible. No doubt the doomed vessel drove helplessly to her de- 
struction, the frozen sails hanging idly to the yards, while her exhausted 
crew miserably perished with the lights of their homes before their eyes. 

All the morning after the wreck the people along shore were searching 
amidst the tangled masses of drift and sea-wrack the storm had cast up for 



FROM WELLS TO OLD YORK. 



119 




THE MORNING KOUND. 



the remains of the crew. They were too much mangled for i*ecognition, ex- 
cept in a single instance. Captain G , a passenger, had by accident put 

on his red-flannel drawers the wrong side out the morning the Isidore sailed, 
observing to his wife 
that, as it was good 
luck, he M'ould not 
change them. One 
leg was found en- 
cased in the drawers. 
The mutilated frag- 
ments were brought 
to the village, and 
buried in a common, 
grave. 

Some of the old 
people at the Port 
declare to this day 
that on the night of 
the wreck they heard 
shrieks as plainly as ever issued from human throats; and you could not ar- 
gue it out of them, though the spot where the Isidore's anchors were found 

is ten miles away. As for Joe B , the runaway, he can not refrain from 

shedding tears when the Isidore is mentioned. 

" But, Ben, do you believe in dreams ?" I asked, with my hand on the latch. 

" B'leeve in dreams !" he repeated ; " why, Joe's a living man ; but where's 
his mates ?" 

Perha^^s they 

"Died as men should die, clinging round their lonely wreck, 
Their winding-sheet the sky, and their sepulchre tlie deck ; 

And the steersman held the helm till his breath 
Grew faint and fainter still ; 
There was one short fatal thrill, 
Then he sank into the chill 
Arms of Death." 

I turned away from the spot with the old sailor's words in mind : "A 
wicked place where she struck ; and the sea drove right on. A ragged place, 
sir — ragged." 

Leaving the cliff, I struck across the pastures to the road, making no far- 
ther halt except to gather a few huckleberries that grew on high bushes by 
the roadside. The fruit is large, either black or blue, with an agreeable 
though different flavor from any of the low -bushed varieties. The local 
name for the shrub is "bilberry." It frequently grows higher than a man's 
head, and a single one will often yield nearly a quart. 



120 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 

It was a year of plenty, and I had seen tlie pickers busy in the berry 
pastures as I passed by. The fruit, being for the time a sort of currency — 
not quite so hard, by-the-bye, as the musket-bullets of the colonists — is re- 
ceived in barter at the stores. Whole families en.gage in the harvest, making- 
fair wages, the annual yield exceeding in value that of the corn crop of the 
State. Maine grows her corn on the Western prairies, and pays for it with 
canned fish and berries. 

At the village store I saw a woman drive up with a bushel of huckle- 
berries, with which she bought enough calico for a gown, half a pound of 
tobacco, and some knickknacks for the children at home. Affixed in a con- 
spicuous place to the wall was the motto, " Quick sales and small profits." 
Half an hour was spent in beating the shop-keeper down a cent in the yard, 
and another quarter of an hour to induce him to " heave in," as she said, a 
spool of cotton. The man, after stoutly contesting the claim, finally yielded 
both points. " The woman," thought I, "evidently only half believes in your 
seductive motto." 

All along the road I had met women and children, going or returning, 
with pails or baskets. One man, evidently a fast picker, had filled the sleeves 
of his jacket with berries, after having first tied them at the wrists. Anoth- 
er, who vaulted over the stone wall at my side, when asked if he was going 
to try the huckleberries, replied, 

" Wa'al, yes ; think I'll try and accumulate a few." 

Descending the last hill before reaching Cape Neddock Harbor, I had a 
good view of tbe Nubble, which several writers have believed was the Savage 
Rock of Gosnold, and the first land in New England to receive an English 
name. The reliable accounts of the early voyagers to our coasts are much 
too vague to enable later historians to fix the points where they made the 
land with the confidence with which many undertake to fix them. A care- 
ful examination of these accounts justifies the opinion that Gosnold made his 
landfall off Agamenticus, and first dropped anchor, since leaving Falmouth, 
at Cape Ann. The latitude, if accurately taken, would of itself put the ques- 
tion beyond controversy; but as the methods of observing the ej^act position 
of a ship Avere greatly inferior to what they became later in the seventeenth 
century, I at first doubted, and was then constrained to admit, that the reck- 
oning of Gosnold, Pring, and Champlain ought to be accepted as trustworthy. 
Gabriel Archer, who was with Gosnold, says,"They held themselves by compu- 
tation well neere the latitude of 43 degrees," or a little northward of the Isles 
of Shoals. John Brereton, also of Gosnold's company, says they fell in with the 
coast in thick weather, and first made land with the lead. By all accounts 
the Concord, Gosnold's ship, was to the northward of Cape Ann. Land was 
sighted at six in the morning of the 14th of May, 1602, and Gosnold stood 
"fair along by the shore" until noon, which would have carried him across 
Ipswich Bay, even if the Concord were a dull sailer. In 1603 Martin Pring 



FROM WELLS TO OLD YORK, 121 

sailed over nearly the same track as Gosnold. It is by comparing these two 
voyages tliat Savage Rock appears to be located at Cape Ann. 

Pring, says Gorges, observing his instructions (to keep to the northward 
as high as Cape Breton), arrived safely out and back, bringing with him "the 
most exact discovery of that coast that ever came to my hands since ; and 
indeed he was the best able to perform it of any I met withal to this present." 
Pring's relation wrought such an impression on Sir F. Gorges and Lord Chief- 
justice Popham that, notwithstanding their first disasters, they resolved on 
another efibrt. He had no doubt seen and talked with Gosnold after his re- 
turn ; perhaps had obtained from him his courses after he fell iu with the 
coast. 

The Speedioell, Pring's vessel, also made land in forty-three degrees. It 
proved to be a multitude of small islands. Pring, after anchoring under the 
lee of the largest, coasted the main-land with his boats. The narrative con- 
tinues to relate that they " came to the mayne in 43^, and ranged to south- 
west, iu which course we found several inlets, the more easterly of which 
was barred at the mouth. Having passed over the bar, we ran up into it five 
miles. Coming out and sailing south-west, we lighted upon two other inlets; 
the fourth and most westerly was best, which we rowed up ten or twelve 
miles." Between forty-three and forty-three and a half degrees are the Saco, 
then barred at the mouth,' the Mousam,York, and the Piscataqua, the "most 
westerly and best." 

" We (meeting with no sassafras)" — to follow the narrative — " left these 
places and shaped our course for Savage's Mocks, discovered the year before 
by Captain Gosnold." Savage Rock, then, was by both these accounts 
(Archer and Pring) to the southward of forty-three degrees, while the Xub- 
ble, or rather Agamenticus, is in forty-three degrees sixteen minutes. 

" Departing hence, we bare into that great gulf which Captain Gosnold 
overshot the year before." This could be no other than Massachusetts Bay, 
for Gosnold, according to Brereton, after leaving Savage Rock, shaped his 
course southward ("standing off" southerly into the sea") the rest of that 
day and night (May lotli), and on the following morning found himself "em- 
bayed with a mighty headland," which Avas Cape Cod. Pring, on the con- 
trary, steered into the bay, "coasting, and finding people on the north side 
thereof." If my conjecture be correct, he was the first English mariner in 
Boston Bay. 

It is hardly possible tliat a navigator falling in with the New England 
coast in forty.-three or forty-three and a half degrees, and steering south-west, 
should not recognize in Cape Ann one of its remarkable features, or pass it 
by unperceived in the night. He would have been likely to find Savage Rock 
and end his voyage at the same moment. Cliamplain and Smith are both in 

' An old sea-chart savs, " Saco liiver bear place at low water." 



122 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 

evidence. The former, wlio examined the coast minutely two years after 
Pi'ing (June, 1605), lias delineated "Cap des Isles" on his map of 1612, 
which accompanied the first edition of his voyages. The account he gives 
of its position is as clear as that of Archer is obscure. Says the Frenchman, 
in his own way : 

" Mettant le cap au su pour nous esloigner afin de mouiller I'ancre, ayant 
fait environ deux lieux nous apper9uines un cap a la grande terre au su quart 
de suest de nous ou il pouvoit avoit six lieues; a I'est deux lieues appergumes 
trois ou quatre isles assez hautes et a I'ouest un grand cu de sae." 

Here are the bearings of Cape Ann, the Isles of Shoals, and of Ipswich 
Bay defined with precision. Champlain also puts the latitude of Kennebunk 
River at forty-three degrees twenty-five minutes, which shows Pring could 
hardly have explored to the eastward of Cape Elizabeth. Smith, in 1614, de- 
scribed Cape Ann and Cape Cod as the two great headlands of New England, 
giving to the former the name of Tragabigzanda; but Champlain had pre- 
ceded him, as Gosnold had preceded Chamjdain. On the whole, Gosnold, 
Pring, and Champlain agree remarkably in their latitude and in their itin- 
erary. 

At Cape Neddock I "put uj)," or rather was put up — an expression ap- 
plied alike to man and beast in every public-house in New England — at tlie 
old Freeman Tavern, a famous stopping-place in by-gone years, when the mail- 
coach between Boston and Portland passed this way. Since I knew it the 
liouse had been brushed up with a coat of paint on the outside, the tall sign- 
post was gone, and nothing looked quite natural except the capacious red 
barn belonging to the hostel. The bar-room, however, was unchanged, and 
the aroma of old Santa Cruz still lingered there, though the pretty hostess 
assured me, on the word of a landlady, there was nothing in the house strong- 
er than small beer. It was not so of yore, when all comers appeared to have 
taken the famous Highgate oath: "Never to drink small beer when you 
could get ale, unless you liked small beer best." 

The evening tempted me to a stroll down to the harbor, to see the wood- 
coasters go out with the flood. Afterward I walked on the beach. The full 
moon shone out clear in the heavens, lighting up a radiant aisle incrusted 
with silver pavement on the still waters, broad at the shore, receding until 
lost in the deepening mystery of the farther sea. The gi-ound-s\vell rose and 
fell with regular heaving, as of Old Ocean asleep. As a breaker wavei'ed and 
toppled over, a bright gleam ran along its broken arch like the swift flash- 
ing of a train. Occasionally some craft crossed the moon's track, where it 
stood out for a moment with surprising distinctness, to be swallowed up an 
instant later in the surrounding blackness. Boon Island had unclosed its 
brilliant eye — its light in the window for the mariner. It had been a perfect 
da}-, but the night was enchanting. 




WHAT THE bE\. C IN DO 



CHAPTER IX. 

AGAMENTICUS, THE ANCIENT CITY. 

" Land of the forest and the rock, 

Of dark-blue kike and mighty river, 
Of mountains reared aloft to mock 
The storm's career, the lightnings shock— 
My own green land forever." 

Whittier. 

HO for Agamenticus ! It is an old saying, attributed to the Iron Duke, 
that when a man wants to turn over it is time for him to turn out. As 
there are six good miles to get over to the mountain, and as many to return, 
I was early astir. The road is chiefly used by wood teams, and was well 
beaten to within half a mile of the hills. From thence it dwindled into a 
green lane, which in turn becomes a footpath bordered by dense under- 
growth. Agamenticus is not a high mountain, although so noted a land- 
mark. There are in reality three summits of nearly equal altitude, ranging 
north-east and south-west, the westernmost being the highest. At the mount- 
ain's foot is a scattered hamlet of a few unthrifty-looking cabins, tenanted by 
wood-cutters, for, notwithstanding the axe has played sad havoc in the neigh- 
boring forests, there are still some clumps of tall pines there fit for the king's 
ships. You obtain your first glimpse of the hills when still two miles dis- 
tant, the road then crossing the country for the rest of the way, with the 
mountain looming up before you. 

Along shore, and in the country-side, the people call the mount indifter- 
ently " Eddymenticus" and " Head o' Menticus." Some, who had lived with- 
in a few miles of it since childhood, told me they had never had the curios- 
ity to try the ascent. One man, who lived within half a mile of the base of 



124 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 

the western hill, had never been on any of the others. The name is unmis- 
takably of Indian origin. General Gookin, in his " Historical Collections of 
the Indians in New England," written in 1674, has the following in relation to 
the tribes inhabiting this region : " The Pawtuckett is the fifth and last great 
sachemship of Indians, Their country lieth north and north-east from the 
Massachusetts, whose dominion reacheth so far as the English jurisdiction, 
or colony of the Massachusetts, now doth extend, and had under them sev- 
eral other small sagamores, as the Pennacooks, Agawomes, Naatnkeeks, Pas- 
catawayes, Accomintas, and others,'" 

The climb is only fatiguing; it is not at all difficult. The native forest 
has disappeared, but a new growth of deciduous trees, with a fair sprinkling 
of evergreens, is fast replacing it. In some places the slender stems of the 
birch or pine shoot up, as it were, out of the solid rock. Following the dry 
bed of a mountain torrent, and turning at every step to wonder and admire, 
in half an hour I stood on the top. The summit contains an acre or more of 
bare granite ledge, with tufts of wiry grass and clumps of tangled vines grow- 
ing among the crevices. Some scattered blocks had been collected at the 
highest point, and a cairn built. I seated myself on the topmost stone of the 
monument, 

A solitary mountain lifting itself above the surrounding country is always 
impressive. Agamenticus seems an outpost of the White Hills, left stranded 
here by the glacier, or upheaved by some tremendous throe. The day was 
not of the clearest, oi-, rather, the morning mists still hung in heavy folds 
about the ocean, making it look from my airy perch as if sky and sea had 
changed places. Capes and headlands were revealed in a striking and mys- 
tical way, as objects dimly seen through a veil. Large ships resembled toys, 
except that the blue space grasped by the eye was too vast for playthings. 
Cape Elizabeth northward and Cape Ann in the southern board stretched far 
out into the sea, as if seeking to draw tribute of all passing ships into the 
ports between. Here were the Isles of Shoals, lying in a heap together. 
That luminous, misty belt was Rye Beach. And here was the Piscataqua, 
and here Portsmouth, Kittery, and Old York, with all the sea-shore villages 
I had so lately traversed. As the sun rose higher, the murky curtain was 
rolled away, and the ocean appeared in its bi'ightest azure. 

The sea is what you seldom tire of, especially v/here its nearness to the 
chief New England marts shows it crowded with sails bearing up for port. 
Craft of every build, flags of every nation, pass Agamenticus and its three 
peaks in endless procession — stately ships 

"That court'sy to them, do them reverence 
As they fly by on their woven wings," 



' "Massachusetts Historical Collections," 1792, vol. i. 



AGAMENTICUS, THE ANCIENT CITY. I05 

Old Ocean parts before the eager prow. You fancy you see the foam roll 
away and go glancing astern. Here is a bark with the bottom of the Tagus, 
and another with the sands of the Golden Horn, sticking to the anchor-fluke; 
and here a smoke on the horizon's rim heralds a swifter messenger from the 
Old World — some steamship climbing the earth's rotundity; and yet water, 
they, say, will not run up hill! "When I looked forth upon this moving scene 
my. lungs began to "crow like chanticleer." I waved my hat, and shouted 
"a" good voyage" to sailors that could not hear me. I had no fear of listen- 
ers, for the Old Man of the Mountain tells no tales. To stand on a mountain- 
top is bettei-, to my mind, than to be up any distance in a balloon. You have, 
at least, something under you, and can come down when you like. What a 
fulcrum Agamenticus would have made for the lever of Archimedes ! 

Landward, the horizon is bounded by the White Hills — the "Crystal 
Mountains, daunting terrible," of the first explorer.' They look shadowy 
enough at this distance — seventy miles as the crow flies — Mount Washington, 
grand and grim, its head muffled in a mantle of clouds, overtopping all. The 
lofty ranges issuing from these resemble a broken wall as they stretch away 
to the Connecticut, with Moosehillock towering above. 

" To me they seemed the barriers of a world, 
Saying, 'Tims far, no fitrther!'" 

The busy towns of Dover and Great Falls, with the nearer villages of Eliot 
and Berwick, are grouped about in picturesque confusion, a spire peeping out 
of a seeming forest, a broad river dwindling to a rivulet. 

After feasting for an hour upon this sight, I became more than ever per- 
suaded that, except in that rare condition of the atmosphere when the White 
Hills are visible far out to sea, Agamenticus must be the first land made out 
in approaching the coast anywhere within half a degree of the forty-third 
parallel. Juan Verazzani, perchance, certainly Masters Gosnold and Pring, 
saw it as plainly as I now saw the ships below me, where they had sailed. 

I thought it fitting here, on the top of Agamenticus, with as good a map 
of the coast spread before me as I ever expect to see, to hold a little chat 
with the discoverers. If Hendrik Hudson haunts the fastnesses of the Cats- 
kills — and a veracious historian asserts tliat he has been both seen and spoken 
Avith — why may not the shade of Captain John Smith be lurking about this 
headland, where of yore he trafficked, and, for aught I know, clambered as I 
have done ? 

Right over against me, though I could not see them, were the Basque 
provinces, whose people the Romans could not subdue, and whose language, 
says the old French proverb, the devil himself could not learn. Cape Finis- 
terre was there, with its shoals of sardines and its impotent conclusion of a 

' An Irislmian, Darby Field by name. 



126 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 

name, as if it had been tlie end of the world indeed ! Archer says, in his 
relation of Gosnold's voyage,' that the day before they made the land they 
had sweet smelling of the shore as from the southern cape and Andalusia, in 
Spain. It was, says Brereton, " a Basque shallop, with mast and sail, an iron 
grapple and a kettle of copper, came boldly aboard of us." In 1578 there 
were a liundred sail of Spanish fishermen on the Banks of Newfoundland to 
fifty English. Spanish Biscay sent twenty or thirty vessels there to kill 
whales; France sent a hundred and fifty; and Portugal fifty craft of small 
tonnage to fish for cod. The Indians who boarded Gosnold could name Pla- 
centia and Newfoundland, and might have come from thence in their shallop, 
since they so well knew how to use it. But if Brereton's surmise was right, 
then some of those daring fellows from the Basse Pyrenees were first at Sav- 
age Rock. He says, "It seemed, by some words and signs they made, that 
some Basques, or of St. John de Luz, have fished or traded in this place, being 
in the latitude of 43 degrees." 

Because tliere was no sassafras, it is not much we know about Savage 
Rock. The root of this aromatic tree was worth in England three shillings 
the pound, or three hundred and tliirty-six pounds the ton, when Gosnold 
found store of it on the Elizabeth Islands ; but as he was informed, " before 
his going forth that a ton of it would cloy England," few of his crew, "and 
those but easy laborers," were employed in gathering it. "The powder of 
sassafras," says Archer, " in twelve hours cured one of our company that 
had taken a great surfeit by eating the bellies of dog-fish, a very delicious 
meat." 

That the medicinal qualities of sassafras were highly esteemed may be in- 
ferred from what is said of it in "An English Exposition," printed at Cam- 
bridge (England), in 1676, by John Hayes, printer to the University. 

'^Sassafras. — A tree of great vertue, which groweth in Florida, in the 
WeSt Indies; the rinde herof hath a sweete smell like cinnamon. It comfort- 
eth the liver and stomach, and openeth obstructions of the inward parts, 
being hot and dry in the second degree. The best of the tree is the root, 
next the boughs, then the body, but the principal goodnesse of all resteth in 
the rinde." 

One Master Robert Meriton, of Gosnold's company, was " the finder of the 
sassafras in these parts," from which it would appear that the shrub in its 
wild state was little known to these voyagers. 

Coming down from my high antiquarian steed, and from Agamenticus at 
the same time, I walked back to the tavern by dinner-time, having fully set- 
tled in my own mind the oft-repeated question, the touch-stone by which 
even one's pleasures must be regulated, "Will it pay?" And I say it will pay 
in solid nuggets of healthful enjoyment, even if no higher aspirations are de- 

' Puvchas, vol. iv., lGt7. 



AGAMENTICUS, THE ANCIENT CITY. 127 

veloped, in standing where at every instant man and liis works diminish, 
while those of the Creator expand before you. 

Douglass remarks tliat "Aquamenticus Hills were known among our sail- 
ors as a noted and useful land-making for vessels that fall in northward of 
Boston or Massachusetts Bay." 

Leaving my comfortable quarters at Cape Neddock, I pnrsued my walk 
to Old York the same afternoon, taking the Long Sands in my way. It was 
farther by the beach than by the road, but as I was in no haste I chose the 
shore. I noticed that the little harbor I had quitted was so shallow as to be 
left almost dry by the receding tide, the channel being no more than a riv- 
ulet, easily forded within a few rods of the sea. Between this harbor and 
Wells Bay I had passed several coves where, in a smooth sea and during a 
w^esterly wind, small vessels were formerly hauled ashore, and loaded with 
Avood at one tide with ease and safety. York Beach is about a mile across. 
I did not find it a long one. 

It being low tide and a fine afternoon, the beach was for the time being 
turned into a highway, broader and smoother than any race-course could be, 
over which all maimer of vehicles were being driven, from the old-fashioned 
gig of the village doctor to the aristocratic landau, fresh from town. The 
sands are hard and gently shelving, with here and there a fresh-water brook- 
let trickling through the bulk-head of ballast heaped up at the top by the 
sea. Tliese little streams, after channeling the beach a certain distance, dis- 
ajipeared in the sand, just as the Platte and Arkansas sink out of sight into 
tiie plain. 

There was a fresh breeze outside, so that the coasters bowled merrily 
along with bellying sails before it, or else bent until gunwale under as they 
hugged it close. The color of the sea had deepened to a steely blue. White 
caps were flying, and the clouds betokened more wind as they rose and un- 
rolled like cannon-smoke above the horizon, producing effects such as ^tan- 
field liked to transfer to his canvas. Mackerel gulls were wheeling and cir- 
cling above the breakers with shrill screams. Down at low-water mark the 
seas came bounding in, driven by the gale, leaping over each other, and beat- 
ing upon the strand with ceaseless roar. 

The beach, I saw, had been badly gullied by the late storm, but the sea, 
like some shrewish housewife, after exhausting its rage, had set about putting 
things to rights again. I found shells of the deep-sea mussel, of quahaug and 
giant sea' clam, bleaching there, but did not see the small razor-clam I have 
picked up on Nahant and other more southerly beaches. 

The sea-mussel, as I have read, was in the olden time considered a cure for 
piles and hemorrhoids, being dried and pulverized for the purpose, William 
Wood speaks of a scarlet mussel found at Piscataqna, that, on being pricked 
with a pin, gave out a purple juice, dying linen so that no washing would 
wear it out. "We mark our handkerchiefs and shirts with it," says thin 



128 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 

writer.* The large mussel is very toothsome. Like the oyster and clam, it 
was dried for winter use by the Indians. 

The giant or hen clam-shell, found in every buttery within fifty miles of 
the coast, was the Indian's garden hoe. After a storm many clams would 
be cast up on the beaches, which the natives, taking out of the shells, carried 
home in baskets. A large shell will hold a plentiful draught of water, and is 
unequaled for a milk- skimmer. Only a part of the fish is used for food, as 
there is a general belief that a portion is poisonous, like the head of a lobster. 
Mourt's relation of the landing of the pilgrims at Cape Cod says they found 
" great mussels, and very fat and full of sea-pearle, but we could not eat them, 
for they made us all sicke that did eat, as well saylers as passengers," As 
they are only found on the beach after an easterly storm, they become well 
filled with sand, and. require thorough cleansing before cooking. Mobile those 
taken from the water near the shore are better, because free from sand. The 
common clam is not eaten along shore during the summer, except at the ho- 
tels and boarding-houses, not being considered wholesome by the resident 
population in any month that has not the letter R. The same idea is current 
with respect to the oyster. In either case the summer is infei-ior to the win- 
ter fish, and as Charles XII. once said of the army bread, " It is not good, but 
may be eaten." 

There was but little sea-weed or kelp thrown up, though above high-water 
mai-k I noticed large stacks of it ready to be hauled away, containing as 
many varieties as commonly grow among the rocks hereaway. But there 
were innumerable cockles and periwinkles lately come ashore, and emitting 
no pleasant odor. The natives used both these shells to manufacture their 
wampum, or wampimipeag, the delicate inner wreath of the periwinkle being 
preferred. Now and then I picked up a sea-chestnut, or " whore's egg," as 
they are called by the fishermen. But the sand roller, or circle, is the curi- 
osity of the beach as a specimen of ocean handicraft. I passed many of them 
scattered about, though a perfect one is rarely found, except on shallow bars 
beyond low-water mark. Looking down over the side of a boat, I have seen 
more than I was able to count readily, but they are too fragile to bear the 
buffeting of the surf In appearance they are like a section taken off the top 
of a jug where the cork is put in, and as neatly rounded as if turned off a pot- 
ter's lathe. Naturalists call them the nest of the cockle. 

Going down the sands as far as the sea would allow, I remarked that the 
nearest breakers were discolored with the rubbish of shredded sea-weed, and 



' In England there is a cockle called the purple, from the coloring matter it contains, believed 
to be one of the sources from which tlie celebrated Tyrian dye was obtained. The discovery is at- 
tributed in mythical story to a dog. The Tyrian Hercules was one day walking with his sweet- 
heart by the shore, followed by lier lap-dog, when the animal seized a shell just cast upon the beach. 
Its lips were stained with the beautiful purple flowing from the shell, and its mistress, charmed with 
the color, demanded a dress dyed with it of her lover. 



AGAMENTICUS, THE ANCIENT CITY. 129 

by the particles of sand they held in solution. As I walked on, countless sand- 
fleas skipped out of my path, as I have seen grasshoppers in a stubble-field 
out West. The sandpipers ran eagerly about in pursuit, giving little plaint- 
ive squeaks, and leaving their tiny tracks impressed upon the wet sand. Little 
sprites they seemed as they chased the refluent wave for their food, sometimes 
overtaken and borne off" their feet by the glancing surf. I remember having 
seen a flock of hens scratching among the sea-moss for these very beach-fleas 
in one of the coves I passed. 

Old Neptune's garden contains as wonderful plants as any above high- 
water mark, though the latter do well with less watering, I have thought 
the botany of the sea worth studying, and, as it is sometimes inconvenient to 
pluck a plant or a flower Avhen you want it, the beach is the place for speci- 
mens. Some years ago delicate sea-mosses were in request. They were kept 
in albums, pressed like autumn leaves, or displayed in frames on the walls at 
home. It was a pretty conceit, and employed many leisure fingers at the 
sea-side, but appears to have been discarded of late. 

One day, during a storm, I went down to the beach, to find it encumbered 
with "devils' apron" and kelp, whitening where it lay. I picked up a plant 
having a long stalk, slender and hollow, of more than ten feet in length, re- 
sembling a gutta-percha tube. The root was firmly clasped around five deep- 
sea mussels, while the other end terminated in broad, plaited leaves. It had 
been torn from its bed in some sea-cranny, to be combined with terrestrial 
vegetation ; but to the mussels it was equal whether they died of thirst or 
of the grip of the talon-like root of the kelp. There were tons upon tons'of 
weed and moss, which the farmers were pitching with forks higher up the 
beach, out of reach of the sea, the kelp, as it was being tossed about, quiver- 
ing as if there were life in it. I found the largest mass of sponge I have ever 
seen on shore — as big as a man's head — and was at a loss how to describe it, 
until I thought of the raops used on shipboard, and made of rope-yarns ; for 
this body of sponge was composed of slender branches of six to twelve inches 
in length, each branching again, coral-like, into three or four offshoots. The 
pores were alive with sand-fleas, who showed great partiality for it. 

What at first seems paradoxical is, that with the wind blowing directly 
on shore, the kelp will not land, but is kept just beyond the surf by the un- 
der-tow ; it requires an inshore wind to bring it in. One who has walked on 
the beach weaves of its sea-weed a garland : 

" From Bermuda's reefs, from edges 

Of sunken ledges, 
On some far-off, bright Azore; 
Erom Bahama and the dashing, 

Silver-flashing 
Surges of San Salvador: 

>K >K « >K 4: 

9 



130 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 

Ever drifting, drifting, drifting 

On the shifting 
Currents of the restless main." 

I had before walked round the cape one way, and now, passing it from a 
contrary direction, had fairly doubled it. After leaving York Beach I pusli- 
ed on for Old York, finding little to arrest my steps, until at night-fall I ar- 
rived at the harbor, after a twenty-mile tramp, with an appetite that augured 
ill for mine host. 

It was not my first visit to Old York, but I found the place strangely 
altered from its usual quiet and dullness. The summer, as Charles Lamb 
says, had set in with its usual severity, and I saw fishers in varnished boots, 
boatmen in tight-fitting trowsers, and enough young Americans in navy blue 
to man a fleet by-and-by. Parasols fluttered about the fields, and silks swept 
the wet floor of the beach. I had examined with a critical eye as I walked 
the impressions of dainty boots in the sand, keeping step with others of more 
masculine shape, and marked where the pace had slackened or quickened, 
and where the larger pair had diverged for a moment to pick up a stone or a 
])ebble, or perchance in hurried self-communing for a question of mighty im- 
port. Sometimes the foot-prints diverged not to meet again, and I saw the 
gentleman had walked off" with rapid strides in the opposite direction. For 
hours on the beach I had watched these human tracks, almost as devious as 
the bird's, until I fancied I should know their makers. Not unfrequently I 
espied a monogram, traced with a stick or the point of a, parasol, the lesser 
initials lovingly twined about the greater. Faith 1 I came to regard the 
beach itself as a larger sort of tablet graven with hieroglyi^hics, easy to de- 
cipher if you have the key. 

The hoteP appeared deserted, but it was only a seclusion of calculation. 
After supper the guests set about what I may call their usual avocations. 
Not a few " paired oflf," as they say at Washington, for a walk on the beach, 
springing down the path with elastic step and voices full of joyous mirth. 
One or two maidens I had seen rowing on the river showed blistered hands 
to condoling cavaliers. Young matrons, carefully shawled by their husbands, 
sauntered off for a quiet evening ramble, or mingled in the frolic of the juve- 
niles going on in the parlor. The dowagers all sought a particular side of 
the house, where, out of ear-shot of the piano, they solaced themselves Mnth 
the evening newspapers, dainp from presses sixty miles away. A few choice 
spirits gathered in the smoking-room, where they maintained a frigid reserve 
toward all new-comers, their conversation coming out between pufis, as void 
of warmth as the vapor that rises from ice. On the beach, and alone with 
inanimate objects, I had company enough and to spare ; here, with a hundred 

' Situated on Stage Neck, a rocky peninsula connecied with the main shore hy a narrow isth- 
mus, on which is a beach. There was formerly a fort on the north-east point of the Neck. 



AGAMENTICUS, THE ANCIENT CITY. 131 

of my own species, it was positively dreary. I took a turn on the piazza, and 
soon retired to my cell; for in these large caravansaries man loses his indi- 
viduality and becomes a number. 

Old York, be it remembered, is one of those places toward which the his- 
tory of a country or a section convei'g'cs. Thus, when you are in Maine all 
roads, historically sjieaking, lead to York. Long before there was any set- 
tlement it had become well known from its mountain and its position near 
the mouth of the Piscataqua. Its first name was Agamenticus. Says Smitli, 
"Accominticus and Pascataquack are two convenient harbors for small barks, 
and a good country within their craggy cliifs :" this in 1G14. He could not 
have sounded, perhaps not even ascended, the Piscataqua. 

Christopher Levett, in his voyage, begun in 1623 aud ended in 1624, says 
of this situation: "About two leagues farther to the east (of Piscataqua) is 
another great river, called Aquamenticus. Tiiere, I tliink, a good plantation 
may be settled; for there is a good harbor for ships, good ground, and much 
already cleared, fit for planting of corn and other fruits, having heretofoi-e 
been planted by the savages, who are all dead. There is good timber, and 
likely to be good fishing; but as yet there hath been no trial made that I can 
hear of." Levett was one of the Council of New England, joined with Rob- 
ert Gorges, Francis West, and Governor Bradford. Fi'om his account, Aga- 
menticus appears to have been a permanent habitation of the Indians, who 
had been stricken by the same plague that desolated what Avas afterward 
New Plymouth. 

The first English settlement was begun probably in 1624, but not earlier 
tlian 1623, on both sides of York River, by Francis Norton, who had raised 
himself at home from the rank of a common soldier to be a lieutenant-colonel 
in tlie army. This was Norton's project, and he had the address to persuade 
Sir Ferdinando Gorges to unite in the undertaking. Artificers to build mills, 
cattle, and other necessaries for establishing the plantation, were sent over. 
A patent passed to Ferdinando Gorges, Norton, and others, of twelve thou- 
sand acres on the east to Norton, and twelve thousand on the west of Aga- 
menticus River to Gorges. Captain William Gorges was sent out by his un- 
cle to represent that interest.' 

The plantation at Agamenticus was incorporated into a borough in 1641, 
and subsequently, in 1642, into a city, under the name of Gorgeana. Thomas 
Gorges, cousin of Sir F. Gorges, and father of Ferdinando, was the first mayor. 
It was also made a free port. Though Gorgeana was probably the first in- 
corporated city in America, it was in reality no more than an inconsiderable 
sea-coast village, with a few houses in some of the best places for fishing and 
navigation. Its territory was, however, ample, embracing twenty-one square 
miles. There was little order or morality among the people, and in one ac- 

' Sir F. Gorges's own relation. 



132 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 

count it is said " they had as many sliares in a woman as a fishing boat.' All 
the earlier authorities I have seen agree in giving Gorgeana an indifferent 
character, and I was not surprised to find a couplet still extant, expressive of 
the local estimate in which its villages were once held. 

"Cape Neddock and tlie Nubble, 
Old York and the d— 1." 

Governor Wintlirop, of Massachusetts, made, in 1643, the following entry 
in his "Journal:" "Tliose of Sir Ferdinando Gorge his province beyond Pis- 
cat were not admitted to the confederation,^ because they ran a difterent 
course from Us, both in their ministry and ciA'il administration ; for they had 
lately made Accomenticus (a poor village) a corporation, and had made a 
taylor their mayor, and had entertained one Mr. Hull, an excommunicated 
person, and very contentious, for their minister." A Boston man, and a mag- 
istrate, stood thus early on his dignity. 

Sir F. Gorges makes his appearance in that brilliant and eventful period 
when Elizabeth ruled in England, Henry IV. in France, and Philip II. in 
Spain. He is said to have revealed the conspiracy of Devereux, earl of Es- 
sex, to Sir Walter Raleigh, after having himself been privy to it." This 
act a bar-sinister in the biography of Gorges, sullies his escutcheon at the 
outset. History must nevertheless award that he was the most zealous, the 
most indefatigable, and the most influential of tliose who freely gave their 
talents and their wealth to the cause of American colonization. Gorges 
deserves to be called the father of New England. For more than forty 
years — extending through the reigns of James I. and of Charles I., the Com- 
monwealth, and the Restoration — he pursued his favorite idea with a con- 
stancy that seems almost marvelous when the troublous times in which he 
lived are passed in review." In a letter to Buckingham on the affairs of 
Spain, Gorges says he was sometimes thought worthy to be consulted by 
Elizabeth. 

Sir Ferdinando commanded at Plymouth, England, with his nephew Wil- 
liam for his lieutenant, when Captain Weymouth returned to that port from 
New England. On board Weymouth's ship were five natives, of whom three 
were seized by Gorges. They were detained by him until they were able 
to give an account of the topography, resources, and peoples of their far-off 
country. Frojn this circumstance dates Gorges's active participation in New 
England affjiirs. 

He was interested in Lord John Popham's ineffectual attempt. Finding 

' About 1G47 the settlements at Agamenticus were made a town by the name of York, proba- 
bly from English York. 

^ Confederation of the colonies for mntnal protection. 

' Elizabeth died while Martin Fring was preparing to sail for America ; and Essex and Raleigh 
both went to the block. 



AGAMENTICUS, THE ANCIENT CITY. I33 

the disasters of tliat expedition, at home and abroad, liad so disheartened his 
associates that he could no longer reckon on their assistance, he dispatched 
Richard Vines and others at his own charge, about 1617, to the same coast 
the Popham colonists had branded, on their return, as too cold to be inhab- 
ited by Englishmen. Vines established himself at or near the mouth of the 
Saco. Between the years 1617 and 1620, Gorges sent Captains Hobson, Ro- 
croft, and Dermer to New England, but their voyages were barren of results. 
In 1620 Gorges and others obtained from the king a separate patent, with 
similar privileges, exemption from custom, subsidies, etc., such as had for- 
merly been granted the Virginia Company. 

By this patent the adventurers to what had heretofore been known as 
the "Northern Colony in Virginia," and "The Second Colony in Virginia," 
obtained an enlargement of territory, so as to include all between the fortieth 
and forty-eighth parallels, and extending westward to the South Sea or Pa- 
cific Ocean. This was the. Great Charter of New England, out of which 
were made the subsequent grants within its territory. The incorporators 
were styled "The Council of Plymouth."' 

The Virginia Company, whose rights were invaded, attempted to annul 
the Plymouth Company's patent. Defeated before the Lords, they brought 
the subject the next year, 1621, before Parliament, as a monopoly and a griev- 
ance of the Commonwealth. Gorges was cited to appear at the bar of the 
House, and made his defense, Sir Edward Coke^ being then Speaker, After 
hearing the arguments of Gorges and his lawyers on three several occasions, 
the House, in presenting the grievances of the kingdom to the throne, placed 
"Sir Ferd. Gorges's patent for sole fishing in New England" at the head of 
the catalogue ; but Parliament, having made itself obnoxious to James, was 
dissolved, and some of its members committed to the Tower. The patent 
was saved for a time. 

Before this affair of the Parliament the Pilgrims had made their ever-fa- 
mous landing in New England. Finding themselves, contrary to their first 
intention, located within the New England patent, they applied through 
their solicitor in England to Gorges for a grant, and in 1623 they obtained 
it. This was the first patent of Plymouth Colony; in 1629 they had another, 
made to William Bradford and his associates. * 

In 1623 the frequent complaints to the Council of Plymouth of tlie abuses 
and disorders committed by fishermen and other intruders within their pa- 
tent, determined them to send out an officer to represent their authority on 
the spot. Robert Gorges, son of Sir Ferdinando, was fixed upon, and became 
for a short time invested with the powers of a civil magistrate. According 
to Belknap, he was styled " Lieutenant-general of New England." George 
Popham was the first to exercise a local authority within her limits. 

' The insertion of the lengthy title in full appears unnecessary. " The celebrated commentator. 



134 



THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 



The Great Cli.artei* of New England Avas sun-endered to the crown in 
April, 1635, and the territory embraced within it was parceled ont among 
the patentees, Gorges receiving for his share a tract of sixty miles in extent, 
from the Merrimac to the Kennebec, reaching into the country one hundred 
and twenty miles. This tract was called the province of Maine. It was di- 
vided by Gorges into eight bailiwiclis or counties, and these again into six- 
teen hundreds, after the manner of the Chiltern Hundreds, a fief of the English 
crown. The Hundreds were subdivided into parishes and tithings. 

It would fatigue the reader to enter into the details of the government 
established by Gorges within what he calls " my province of Maine." It was 
exceedingly cumbrous, and the few inhabitants were in as great danger of 
being governed too much as later communities have often been. An annual 
rental was laid on the lands, and no sale or transfer could be made without 
consent of the Council. This distinction, as against the neighboi'ing colony 
of Massachusetts, where all were freeholders, was fatal. The crown, in con- 
firming the grant to Gorges, vested him with privileges and powers similar 
to those of the lords palatine of the ancient city of Durham. Under this au- 
thority the plantation at Agamenlicus was raised to the dignity of a city, 
and a quasi ecclesiastical government founded in New England. 

Belknap says further that there was no provision for public institutions. 
Schools were unknown, and they had no minister till, in pity of their deplora- 
ble state, two went thither from Boston on a voluntary mission. 

There are yet some interesting objects to be seen in Yoi"k, though few of 
the old liouses are remaining at the 
harbor. These few will, however, re- 
pay a visit. Prominent among her an- 
tiquities is the meeting-house of the 
first parish. An inscription in the 
foundation records as follows : 

"Founded A. D. 1747. 
The Revd. Mr. Moody, Pas." 

The church is placed on a grassy 
knoll, with the parsonage behind it. 
Its exterior is plain. If such a dis- 
tinction may be made, it belongs to 
the third order of New England 
churches, succeeding to the square 
tunnel-roofed edifice, as that had suc- 
ceeded the original barn-like house of 
worship. Entering the porch, I saw 
two biers leaning against the stair- 
case of the bell-tower, and noticed that ^"*^^ mketing-house. 
the bell-ringer or his assistants had indulged a passion for scribbling on the 




AGAMENTICUS, THE ANCIENT CITY. I35 

walls, though not, as might be infevred, from Scripture texts. The interior is 
as severe as the exterior. Besides its rows of straight-backed pews, it was 
furnished at one end with a mahogany pulpit, communion-table, and sofa 
covered with black hair-cloth. Hanging in a frame against the pul])it are 
fac-similes of letters from the church at York to that of Rowley, bearing the 
date of 1673. The tower is an ingenious piece of joinery that reminded me 
of Plingham church. 

Shubael Duminer, the first minister of this parish, was killed in 1692, at 
the sacking of the place by the Indians. He was shot down in the act of 
mounting his horse at his own door, a short distance toward the harboi-. 
Mather, in his "Magnalia," indulges in a strain of eulogy toward this gentle- 
man that we should now call hifahitin. Dummer's successor was Samuel 
Moody, an eccentric but useful minister, still spoken of as "Parson Moody." 
He was Sir "William Pepperell's chaplain in the Louisburg expedition, and 
noted for the length and fervor of his prayers. 

After the capitulation Sir William gave a dinner to the superior officers 
of the army and fleet. Knowing the pi'olixity of his chaplain, he was em- 
barrassed by the thought that the parson's long-winded grace might weary 
the admiral and others of his guests. In this dilemma, he was astonished to 
see the parson advance and address the throne of gi'ace in these words: "O 
Lord, we have so many things to thank thee for, that time will be infinitely 
too short for it; we must therefore leave it for the work of eternity." 

A second parish was formed in York about 1730. Rev. Joseph Moody, 
the son of Samuel, was ordained its first pastor, in 1732. At the death of his 
wife he fell into a settled melancholy, and constantly appeared with his face 
covered with a handkerchief. From this circumstance he was called " Hand- 
kerchief Moody." He was possessed of wit, and some dreary anecdotes are 
related of him. Mr. Hawthorne has made the incident of the handkerchief 
the frame- work of one of his gloomiest tales. I know of no authority other 
than tradition to support the statement made in a note accompanj'ing the 
tale, that " in early life he (Moody) had accidentally killed a beloved friend."' 

It is only a short distance from the church to tlie old burying-ground, and 
I was soon busy among the inscriptions, though I did not find them as in- 
teresting as I had anticipated. The place seemed wholly uncared for. The 
grass grew rank and tangled, making the examination difficult, and at every 
step I sank to the knee in some hollow. The yard is ridged with graves, 
and must have received the dust of many generations, going back even to 
those who acknowledged the first James for their dread lord and sovereign. 



' We are warranted in the belief that the first sei-vices held in this plantation were those of the 
Church of England. The first, or borough, charter mentions the church chapel. Robert Gorges, 
in 1623, brought over an Episcopal chaplain, William Morrell, and with him also came, as is sup- 
posed, Rev. William Blackstone, the first inhabitant of Boston. 



136 



THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 



As usual, the older stones, when I had found tlieni, were too much defaced 
to be deciphered, and I remarked that the slate grave-stone of Parson Moody 
preserved but few of its original lines. Beside him lay the remains of his 
wife. The following is his own epitaph : 

" Here lies the body of the 

Rev'd SAMUEL MOODY, A.M. 

The zealous, faithful, and successful pastor of the 

First Church of Christ in York. 

Was born in Newbury, January 4th, 1675. 

Graduated 1697. Came hither May i6th, 

Died here November 13th, 1747. 

For his farther character read the 2d Corinthians, 

3d chapter and first six verses." 

In the corner of the ground next the main street is the monumental tablet 
of Hon. Diivid Sewall. A plain slab of slate at his side marks the resting- 
place of his wife. On this are enumerated some of the public offices held by 
her husband, and the two monuments might furnish the reader with materials 
for a biography. 

Mr. Adams, in his " Diary," notes meeting his " old friend and classmate " 
at York, when he was going the circuit in 17V0. Sewall had just returned 
from a party of pleasure at Agamenticus, and the talk was of erecting a bea- 
con upon it. At this time he was looked upon as a'Tory, but became a zeal- 
ous Whig before hostilities with the mother country began. 




JAIL AT OLD YORK. 



In 1640, says Lechford, nothing was read nor any funeral sermon made at 
a bui'ial,but at the tolling of the bell all the neighborhood came together, 
and after bearing the dead solemnly to the grave, stood by until it was closed. 
Tlie ministers were commonly, but not always, present. In these few and 
simple rites our fathers testified 

"The emptiness of human pride, 
The nothingness of man." 



AGAMENTICUS, THE ANCIENT CITY. 



137 




On a rising ground opposite the town-house is tlie old jail of York. I 
have deemed it worthy a passing notice. It is a quaint old structure, and 
has held many culprits in fonner times, when York was the seat ot'justice for 
the county, though it would not keep your modern burglar an hour. It is 
perched, like a bird of ill omen, on a rocky ledge, where all might see it in 
])assing over the high-road. Thus, in the early day, the traveler on enter- 
ing the county town encountei'ed, first, the stocks and 
wliipping- post ; continuing his route, he in due time 
came to the gallows, at tlie town's end. Tlie exterior 
of the jail is not especially repulsive, now that it is no 
longer a prison ; but the inside is a relic of barbarism 
— just such a place as I have often imagined the miser-^ 
able Avitchcraft prisoners might have been confined in. 
The back wall is of stone. The doors are six inches 
of solid oak, studded with heavy nails ; the gratings 
secured with the blades of mill saws, having the jagged 
teeth upward ; the sills, locks, and bolts are ponderous, 
and unlike any thing the present centurj'^ has produced. 
The dungeons, of wiiich there are two, admitted no 
ray of light except when the doors were opened; and 
these doors were of two thicknesses of oaken planks 
banded between with plates of iron, and on the outside with rusty blades of 
mill saws, as were also the crevices through which the jailer passed bread 
and water to the wretched criminals. The gloom 
and squalor of these cachots oppressed the spirits 
of even the casual visitor, free to come and go at 
pleasure; what must it, then, have been to the 
wretches condemned to inhabit them ? Above 
these dungeons were two or three cells, secured 
by precautions similar to those below; Avhile 
other apartments were reserved for the jailer's 
use. The house was inhabited, and children 

' _ _ STOCKS. • 

were playing about the floor. I fancied their 

merry laughter issuing from solitary dungeons where nothing but groans 
and imprecations had once been heard. Perchance there have been Hester 
Prynnes and Cassandra Southwicks immured within these walls. 

As I never feel quite at home within a prison, I made haste to get into 
the open air again. I noticed, what is common in the country, that an un- 
derpinning of boards had been placed around the foundation at the distance 
of a foot, the space within being filled with eartli. "That," said a whimsical 
fellow, "is to keep the coarsest of the cold out." 

They have a jail at Alfred hardly more secure than the old. I was told 
of a prisoner who coolly informed the jailer one morning that if he did not 




138 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 

supply him with better victuals he would not stay another clay. He was as 
good as his word, making his escape soon after. Wagner, the Isles of Shoals 
murderer, also broke jail at Alfred, but was recaptured. 

I should have liked to devote a few moments to the old court-house, its 
eminent and distinguished judges and barristers of the provincial courts, not 
forgetting its crier and constables. I should, I repeat, like to open the court, 
and marshal the jurors, witnesses, and even the idlers to their places in the 
king's name. I should like to hear some of those now antiquated, but then 
oft-quoted, scraps of law from the statutes of Richard II. or Sixth Edward. 
But it is all past. Bag-wigs, black gowns, and silver buckles are no more 
seen, except in family portraits of the time, and the learned counsel of to-day 
^]o more address each other as " Brother A " or " B ." There do re- 
main, however, in front of the old court-house four beautifully spreading elms, 
planted by David Sewall in 1773. To look at them now, it is not easy to 
fancy they could be grasped with the hand when the battle of Lexington was 
fought. 

I passed on by the old tavern -stand where AVoodbridge, in 1770, 
swung his sign of " Billy Pitt," and underneath, the words " Entertain- 
ment for the Sons of Liberty " — a hint to Tories to take their custom else- 
where. I should have enjoyed a pipe with that landlord, as John Adams 
says he did. 

In Old York they have a precinct known as Scotland, said to have been 
first settled by some of the prisoners of Cromwell's victory at Dunbar, and 
shipped over seas to be sold as apprentices for a term of years. I was bound 
thither to see the garrison houses that had withstood the onset of the Indians 
in King William's war. 

It is four miles from the village to Scotland parish, the road passing 
through broad acres of cleared land or ancient orchards, with now and then a 
by-way of green turf leading to a farm-house on the river, or a gleam of the 
stream itself winding through the meadows as you mount the rocky hills in 
your route. 

Cider Hill is a classic localitj'-, which the traveler must pass through. It 
is well named, I should say, the trees, though old, being laden with apples, fit 
only for the cider-j)ress. I was struck with the age of the orchards, and in- 
deed with the evidences on all sides of the long occupancy of the land. In 
going up and down the traveled roads of York the impression is everywhere 
gained of an old settled country. 

By the side of the road is the withered trunk of an ancient tree, said to 
have been brought from England in a tub more than two hundred years ago. 
Nothing remains but the hollow shell, which still puts forth a few green 
shoots. Next to the rocks, it is the oldest object on the road. At a little 
distance it has sent up an offshoot, now a tree bearing fruit, and has thus 
risen again, as it were, from its own ashes. This tree deserves to be remem- 



AGAMENTICUS, THE ANCIENT CITY. 



139 




OLD GARRISON-HOUSE. 



bered along with tlie Stnyvesant and Endicott pear-trees. There is, or was, 
another apple-tree of equal age with this in Bristol. 

"You have a good many apples this year," I said to a farmer. 

" Oh, a marster sight on 
'em, sir, marster sight; but 
they don't fetch nothing." 

"Is the cool summer in- 
juring your corn?" I pur- 
sued. 

"Snouted it, sir; snout- 
ed it." 

The Junkius's garrison is 
the first reached. It is on 
the brow of a high hill over- 
looking the river meadows, 
where, if good watch were 
kept, a foe could hardly have approached unseen. It can not survive much 
longer. It is dilapidated inside and out to a degree that every blast searches 
it through and through. The doors stood ajar; the floors were littered with 
corn-fodder, and a hen was brooding in a corner of the best room. Having 
served as dwelling and castle, it embodies the economy of the one with the 
security of the other. The chiumey is of itself a tower; the floor timbers of 
the upper story project on all sides, so as to allow it to overhang the lower. 
This was a type of building imported from England by the early settlers, 
common enough in their day, and of which specimens are still extant in sucii 
of our older towns as Boston, Salem, and Marblehead. Its form admitted, 
however, of a good defense. The walls are of hcAvn timber about six inches 
thick, and bullet-proof. On the north-east, and where the timbers were ten 
inches thick, they have rotted away under their long exposure to the weather. 
I observed a loop-hole or two that had not been closed up, and that the roof 
frame was of oak, with the bark adhering to it.* 

In one room was an old hand-loom ; in another a spinning-wheel lay over- 
turned ; and in the fire-place the iron crane, Slackened Avith soot, was still 
fixed as it miG;ht have been when the Q-arrison was beset in '92. Between 



' Ilntchinson says: "In every frontier settlement there were more. or less garrison houses, 
some with a flankart at two opposite angles, others at each corner of the house ; some houses sur- 
rounded with palisadoes ; others, which were smaller, built with square timber, one piece laid hori- 
zontally npon another, and loop-holes at every side of the house ; and besides these, generally in 
any more considerable plantation there was one garrison house capable of containing soldiers sent 
for the defense of the plantation, and the families near, whose houses were not so fortified. It was 
thought justifiable and necessary, whatever the general rule of law might be, to erect such forts, 
castles, or bulwarks as these upon a man's own ground, without commission or special license there- 
for." — "History of Massachusetts," vol. ii., p. 67. 



140 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 

the house and the road is the Junkins's family bnrying-ground. The house 
attracts many curious visitors, though it lacks its ancient warlike accessories, 
its lookouts, palisades, and flankarts. 

A few rods farther on, in descending the hill, is the M'Intire garrison. It 
is on the opposite side of the Berwick road from the house through which I 
have just hurried the reader; and, except that a newer addition has been 
joined to the garrison part, does not materially differ from it, Mr. M'Intire, 
now the owner of both houses, showed me an opening in the tloor of the pro- 
jection through which, according to the family tradition, boiling water was 
poured upon the heads of any who might try to force an entrance. 

It has been supposed that these two garrisons were erected as early as 
1640 or 1650, As no motive existed for building such houses at that time, 
the tradition is not entitled to credit. Few of the Indians were possessed of 
fire-arms, as the sale to them was strictly prohibited in the English colonies. 
The digging up of the hatchet by the eastern Indians, in 1676, during Philip's 
war, probably first led to the building of fortified houses in all the sea-coast 
towns. During the attack of 1692, the four garrisons in York saved the 
lives of those they sheltered, while fifty of the defenseless inhabitants were 
killed outright, and one hundred and fifty were led prisoners to Canada. 

It is not my purpose to jjursue farther the history of ancient Agamenticus. 
The state of the settlement five years after its destruction by the Indians ap- 
pears in a memorial to the French minister, prepared in order to show the 
feasibility of a thorough wiping out of tlie English settlements from Boston 
to Pemaquid : 

"From Wells Bay to York is a distance of five leagues. There is a fort 
within a river. All the houses having been destroyed five years ago by the 
Indians, the English have re-assembled at this place, in order to cultivate their 
lands. The fort is worthless, and may have a garrison of forty men." 

As a memorial of the dark days when settler fought with savage, the 
Junkins's garrison-house appeals for protection in its decrepit old age. Its 
frame is still strong. A few boards and a kindly hand should not be want- 
ing to stay its ruin. I left it as for nearly two hundred years it has stood, 

" On its windy site uplifting gabled roof and palisade, 
And rough walls of unhewn timber with the moonlight overlaid." 





POKTSMOUTU, ZsiiVV UAAIl'blllliE, laiUM KlTTEliV BKlUGJi. 



CHAPTER X. 

AT KITTERY POIXT, MAINE. 

" We have no title-deeds to house or lands ; 
Owners and occupants of earlier dates 
From graves forgotten stretch their dusty hands, 
And hold in mortmain still their old estates." 

LoNGFELLOAV. 

X OUIS XV. said to Bouret, the financier, " You are indeed a singular per- 
-'-^ son not to have seen Marly ! Call upon me there, and I will show it to 
you." 

Our way lies from Old York to Kittery Point.' To get from the one to 
the other you must pass the bridge over York River, built in 1761. It inau- 
gurated in New England the then novel method of laying the bridge super- 
structure on a frame-work formed of wooden piles driven into the bed of the 
river. The inventor was Major Samuel Sewall, of York, whose bridge was 
the model of those subsequently built over the Charles, Mystic, and Merri- 
mac. 

Kittery Point is separated from Kitterj' Foreside by Spruce Creek. It is 
also divided from Geri'ish's Island, the outermost land of the eastern shore 



' The name of Kittery Point is from a little hamlet in England. It is the first and oldest town 
in the State, having been settled in 1G23. Gorgeana, settled 1024, was a city corporate, and not a 
town. Kittery first included North and South Berwick and Eliot. 



142 



THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 



of the Piscataqua, by Chauncy's Creek. It is important at Kittery Point 
to get nsed to the names of Cutts, Gerrish, Sparhawk, Pepperell, Waldron, 
Chauncy, and Champernowne. They recur with remarkable frequency. 

If coming from Portsmouth, the visitor will first traverse the village, with 
its quaint little church, built in 1714, its secluded cemetery, and fine old elms. 
They say the frame of the meeting-house was hewn somewhere about Dover, 
and floated down the stream. There are few older churches in New Eno-land, 
or that embody more of its ancient homeliness, material and spiritual. Since 
I was there it has been removed about sixty feet northward, and now fronts 
the south, entirely changing the appearance of that locality. 





NAVY-YAKD, KITTERY, MAINE. 

Formerly, in leaving the church door, you were confronted by a sombre old 
mansion, having, in despite of some relics of a former splendor, an unmistak- 
able air of neglect and decay. The massive entrance door hung by a single 
tastening, the fluted pilasters on either side were rotting away, window panes 
were shattered, chimney tops in ruins, the fences prostrate. It was nothing 
but a wi-eck ashore. This was the house built by Lady Pepperell, after the 
death of Sir William. Report said it was haunted ; indeed I found it so, and 
by a living phantom. 

Repeated and long-continued knocking was at length answered by a trem- 
ulous effort from within to open the door, wliich required the help of my com- 
panion and myself to eflect. I shall never forget the figure that appeared to 

us: 

"We stood and gazed; 
Gazed on her sunburned face with silent awe, 
Her tattered mantle and her hood of straw." 



Poor Sally Cutts, a harmless maniac, was the sole inhabitant of the old 



AT KITTERY POINT, MAINE. I43 

house; she and it were fallen into hopeless ruin together. Her appearance 
was weird and witch-like, and betokened squalid poverty. Au old calash al- 
most concealed her features from observation, except when she raised her 
head and glanced at us in a scared, furtive sort of way. Yet beneath this 
Avreck, and what touched us keenly to see, was the instinct of a lady of gentle 
breeding that seemed the last and only link between her and the world. 
With the air and manner of the drawing-room of fifty years ago she led the 
way from room to room. 

We tracked with our feet the snow that had drifted in underneath the hall 
door. The floors were bare, and echoed to our tread. Fragments of the 
original paper, representing ancient ruins, had peeled off the walls, and vandal 
hands had wrenched away the pictured tiles from the fire-places. The upper 
rooms were but a repetition of the disorder and misery below stairs. 

Our hostess, after conducting us to her own apartment, relapsed into im- 
becility, and seemed little conscious of our presence. Some antiquated fur- 
niture, doubtless family heir-looms, a small stove, and a bed, constituted all 
her worldly goods. As she crooned over a scanty fire of two or three wet 
sticks, muttering to herself, and striving to warm her withered hands, I 
thought I beheld in her the impersonation of Want and Despair. 

Her family was one of the most distinguished of New England, but a 
strain of insanity developed itself in her branch of the genealogical tree. Of 
three brothers — John, Richard, and Robert Cutt — who, in 1641, emigrated 
from Wales, the first became president of the Province of New Hampshire, 
the second settled on the Isles of Shoals, and the third at Kittery, where he 
became noted as a builder of ships. 

This house had come into the possession of Captain Joseph Cutts' about 
the beginning of the century. He was a large ship-owner, and a successful 
and wealthy merchant. Ruined by Mr. Jefferson's embargo and by the war 
of 1812, he lost his reason, and now lies in the village church-yard. Two of 
his sons inherited their father's blighting misfortune : one fell by his own 
hand in Lady Pepperell's bed-chamber. Sally, the last survivor, has joined 
them within a twelvemonth. 



* Captain Joseph Ciitts was born in 1764, and died on liis birthday anniversary, aged ninety- 
seven. He married a granddaughter of President Chainicy, of Harvard College. Sarah Chaun- 
cy, known to us as "Sally Cutts,"was removed daring her last illness to the house of her cousin, 
where she was kindly oared for. When near lier end she became more rational, and was sensible 
of the attentions of her friends. She died June 30th, 1874. Her brother Charles was hopelessly 
insane forty-four years, and often so violent as to make it necessary to chain him. Joseph, the 
other brother, entered the navy : overtaken by his malady, he was sent home. Under these re- 
peated misfortunes, added to the care of her fiither and brothers, Sally's reason also gave way. 
The town allowed a small sum for the board of her father and brothers, and her friends provided 
wood and clothing. Her house even was sold to satisfy a Government claim for duties, owed by 
her father. It has now been renovated, and is occupied by Oliver Cutts, Esquire. 



144 



THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 



Poor Sally Cutts ! She rose to take leave of us with the same ceremoni- 
ous politeness which had marked her reception. Her slight and shrunken 
figure was long in my memory, her crazy buffet, and broken, antiquated 
chairs, to which she clung as the most precious of earthly possessions. It 
was one of her hallucinations to be always expecting the arrival of a messen- 
ger from Washington with full reparation of the broken fortunes of her fam- 
ily. Some charitable souls cared for her necessities, but such was the poor 
creature's pride that artifice was necessary to effect their purpose. Flitting 
through the deserted halls of the gloomy old mansion — dreading tlie stran- 
ger's approach, the gossip of the neighborhood, the jibes of village urchins — 
Sally remained its mistress until summoned to a better and kindlier mansion. 
I said the house was haunted, and I believe it. 

A short walk beyond the cemetery brings you up with Fort M'Clary,' its 
block-house, loop-holed for musketry, its derricks, and general disarray. Not 




BLOCK-HOUSE AND FOKT, KITTERl POINT. 

many would have remembered the gallantry of Major Andrew M'Clary at 
Bunker Hill, but for this monument to his memory. The site has been forti- 
fied from an early day b}'' garrison-house, stockade, or earth-work. It should 
have retained its earliest name of Fort Pepperell. John Stark's giant com- 
rade might have been elsewhere commemorated. 

It is said no village is so humble but that a great man may be born in it. 
Sir William Pepperell was the great man of Kittery Point. He was what is 
now called a self-made man, raising himself from the ranks through native 
genius backed by strength of will. Smollett calls him a Piscataquay trader. 



^ My appearance within Fort M'Clary caused a panic in the garrison. A few unimportant 
questions concerning the old works were answered only after a hurried consultation between the 
sergeant in charge and the head workman. The Government was then meditating war with Spain, 
and I had reason to believe I was looked upon as a Spanish emissary. 



AT KITTERY POINT, MAINE. 



145 



with little or no education, and utterly unacquainted with military operations. 
Though contemptuous, the description is literally true. 

Sir William's father is first noticed in the annals of the Isles of Shoals. 
The mansion now seen near the Pepperell Hotel was built partly by him and 
in part by his more eminent son. The building was once much more exten- 
sive than it now appears, having been, about twenty years ago, shortened ten 
feet at either end. Until the death of the elder Pepperell, in 1734, the house 
Mas occupied by his own and his son's families. The lawn in front reached 
to the sea, and an avenue, a quarter of a mile in length, bordered by fine old 
trees, led to the house of Colonel Sparhawk, east of the village church. With 
its homely exterior the mansion of the Pepperells represents one of the great- 
est fortunes of colonial New England. It used to be said Sir William might 
ride to the Saco without g-oing off" his own possessions.' 




SIR WILLIAM PEPPERELL S HOUSE, KITTERY POINT. 

There is hanging in the large hall of the Essex Institute, at Salem, a two- 
thirds length of Sir William Pepperell, painted in 1751 by Smibert, when the 
baronet was in London. It represents him in scarlet coat, waistcoat, and 
breeches, a smooth-shaven face and powdered periwig: the waistcoat, richly 



' The house was also occupied at one time as a tenement by fishermen. It exhibits no marks, 
either inside or out, of tlie wealth and social consequence of its old proprietor. 

10 



146 



THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 



golcl-embi'oiclered, as was then the fashion, was worn long, descending almost 
to the knee, and formed tlie most conspicuous article of dress. In one hand 
Sir William grasps a truncheon, and in the background the painter has de- 
picted the siege of Louisburg.' 

Smollett accredits Auchmuty, judge-advocate of the Court of Admiralty 
of New England, with the plan of the conquest of Louisburg, which he pro- 
nounces the most important achievement of the war. Mr. Hartwell said in 
ilie House of Commons that the colonists took Louisburg from the French 
single-handed, without any European assistance — "as mettled an enterprise 

as any in our history," he calls it. The 
3 honor of the Louisburg expedition has 

J also been claimed for James Gibson, of 
Boston, and Colonel William Vaughan, 
^ of Damariscotta. But the central figures 
appear to have been Governor William 
Shirley and Sir William Pepperell.'^ 

The year of Louisburg was an event- 
ful one, for all Europe was in arms. The 
petty German princes were striving for 
the imperial crown vacant by the death 
of the emperor, Charles VII. France 
"^P JBHi H ilW^^^ff^iMini supports the pretensions of the Grand 
"Iwl^wlSyB^^^^i! ^BBH -^'^^^^ of Tuscany with a powerful army 

under her illustrious profligate, Maurice 
de Saxe ; Austria invades Bohemia ; the 
old Brummbar swoops down upon Sax- 
ony, and his cannon growl under the 
walls of Dresden ; the Rhenish frontiers, Silesia, Hungary, and Italy, are all 
ablaze. 

England must have a hand in the fighting. Lord Chesterfield's mission 
to the Hague, the Quadruple Alliance at Warsaw, are succeeded by the 
stunning blow of Fontenoy. The allied army recoiled, and drew itself to- 
gether under the walls of Brussels. The Duke of Cumberland was defeated 
by a sick man.^ 

It was at this moment of defeat that the news of the fall of Louisburg 
reached the allies. The Dunkirk of America had capitulated to a "trader of 




SIK WILLIAM PEPPERELL. 



' Mr. Longfellow has, at Cambridge, a painting by Copley, representing two children in a park. 
These children are William Pepperell and his sister, Elizabeth Royall Pepperell, children of the 
last baronet. 

^ Both were made colonels in the regnlar British establishment ; their regiments, numbered the 
Fiftieth and Fifty-first respectively, were afterward disbanded. 

' Marshal Saxe, unable to mount his horse, was carried along his lines in a litter. 



AT KITTERY POINT, MAINE. I47 

Piseataquay." It put new life into tlie beaten army, and was celebrated with 
great rejoicings in its camps/ 

Among those who served with distinction under Pepperell were Richard 
Gridley, who afterward placed tlie redoubt on Bunker Hill ; Wooster, who 
fell at Ridgefield ; Thornton, a signer of our Magna Charta ; and Nixon and 
Whiting, of the Continental army. It Avas sought to give the expedition 
something of the character of a crusade. George Whitefield furnished for its 
banner the motto, , 

"A17 Desperandum^ Christo DuceP 

A little more family history is necessary to give the reader the entree of 
the four old houses at Kittery Point, 

The elder Sir William, by his will, made the son of his daughter Elizabeth 
and Colonel Sparhawk his residuary legatee, requiring him, at the same time^ 
to relinquish the name of Sparhawk for that of Pepperell. The baronetcy, 
extinct with the death of Sir William, was revived by the king for the benefit 
of his grandson, a royalist of 1775, who went to England at the outbreak of 
hostilities. The large family estates were confiscated by the patriots. 

The tomb of the Pepperells, built in 1734, is seen between the road and 
the Pepperell Hotel. ^ When it Avas repaired some years ago, at the instance 
of Harriet Hirst Sparhawk, the remains were found lying in a promiscuous 
heap at the bottom, the wooden shelves at the sides having given way, pre- 
cipitating the coffins upon the floor of the vault. Tlie planks first used to 
close the entrance had yielded to tlie jiressure of the feet of cattle grazing in 
the common field, filling the tomb with rubbish. About thirty skulls were 
found in various stages of decomposition. A crypt was built in a corner, and 
the scattered relics carefully placed within.^ 

Dr. Eliot, the pioneer among American biographers, says Dr. Belknap oft- 
en mentioned to him that his desire to preserve the letters of Sir William 
Pepperell led to the founding of the Massachusetts Historical Society. This 
object does not seem to have been wholly accomplished, as it is well known 
the baronet's papers have become widely scattered.'' 

Not far from the mansion of the Pepperells is the very ancient dwelling 
of Bray, whose daughter, Margery, became Lady Pepperell. It was long be- 

^ The j'ear 1745 was also signalized by the death of Pope in June, and of the old Duchess of 
Marlborough in October, who died at eighty-five, immensely rich, and "very little regretted either 
by her own family or the world in general." — Smollett. 

^ Mr. E. F. Safford, the proprietor, exercises watch and ward over this and other relics of the 
Pepperells with a care worthy of imitation all along the coast. 

^ Mr. Sabine notes in his "Loyalists" that the tomb, when entered some years ago, contained 
little else than bones strewed in confusion about its muddy bottom; among them, of course, the 
remains of the victor of Louisburg, deposited in it at his decease in 1759. 

^ The best biography of Sir William Pepperell is that by Ur. Usher Parsons. 



148 



THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 



fore the old shipwright made up his mind to consent to match his daughter 
so unequally. This house is considered to be two hundred and twenty-five 
years old, and is still habitable. Down at the water-side are seen the rotting 
timbers of the wharf where the Pepperells, father and son, conducted an ex- 
tensive trade. 

A little east of the hotel and the pleasant manse below the river makes a 
noble sweep, inclosing a favorite anchorage for storm or wind bound craft. 




KITTERT POINT, MAINE. 

Not unfrequently a hundred may be seen quietly riding out a north-easter at 
snug moorings. At such times this harbor and Gloucester are havens of ref- 
uge for all coasters caught along shore. The sight of the fleet getting under 
way with the return of fine weather is worth going to see. 

When at Kittery Point the visitor may indulge in a variety of agreeable 
excursions by land or water; the means are always at hand for boating and 
driving, and there is no lack of pleasant rambles. I first went to Gerrish's 



AT KITTERY POINT, MAINE. I49 

Island on a wild N'oveinber day, and in a north-east snow-storm. I never en- 
joyed myself better. 

In the first place, this island is one of the headlands of history as well as 
of the Piscataqua. It was conveyed as early as 163G, by Sir F. Gorges, to 
Arthur Champernowne, a gentleman of Devon.' The island was to take the 
name of Dartington, from the manor of the Cliampernovvnes.^ In this indent- 
ure Brave Boat Harbor is mentioned. The Province of Maine was then some- 
times called New Somersetshire. 

There is something in this endeavor of all the promoters of New England 
to graft upon her soil the time-honored names of the Old, to plant with her 
civilization something to keep her in loving remembrance, that appeals to our 
protection. These names are historical and significant. They link us to the 
high renown of our mother isle. No political separation can disinherit us. 
I think the tie is like the mystery of the electric wave that passes under the 
sea, unseen yet acknowledged of all, active though invisible. 

The island, with many contiguous acres, became the property of Francis, 
son of Arthur Champernowne, and nephew of Sir F. Gorges, who is buried 
there, his grave distinguished by a heap of stones. Tradition said he forbade 
in his last testament any stone to be raised to his memory.' In the hands 
of subsequent proprietors the island was called Ciitts's, Fryer's, and Ger- 
rish's Island. It is usually spoken of as two islands, being nearly though 
not quite subdivided by Chauncy's Creek. The venerable Cutts's farm-house 
on the shore of the island is two hundred and thirty years old by family ac- 
count. 

All the islands lying northward of the ship channel belong to Kittery.* 
IMany of them have interesting associations. Trefethren's, the largest, pro- 
jects far out into the river, and is garnished with the earth-works of old Fort 
Sullivan, from which shot might be pitched with ease on the decks of invad- 
ing ships. Fernald's, now Navy Yard Island, became in 1806 the property 
of the United States, by purchase of Captain William Dennett, for the sum of 
five thousand five hundred dollars. 

Badger's, anciently Langdon's Island, is a reminiscence of one of the no- 



' The relation in Purchas, vol. iv., p. 1935, of the voj-age of Robert, earl of Essex, to the Azores 
in 1597, has a supplementarj' or larger relation, written by Sir Arthur Gorges, knight, a captain in 
the earl's fleet of the ship Wast-Sjnte. There is mention of a Captain Arthur Champernowne, 
who appears to have sailed with the admiral in this expedition. 

^ The father of James Anthony Froude, the historian, was rector of Dartington ; the historian 
was born there. 

' He is fully recognized as a personage of distinction in the beginnings of Kittery. Charles W. 
Tuttle gives him a touch of royal blood. I failed to find such a provision in his own draft of his 
will. 

* They are, in descending the river. Badger's, Navy Yard, Trefethren's, or Seavey's, Clark's, 
and Gerrisli's Island. 



150 



THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 




blest of the old Ro- 
mans of the revolu- 
tionary time. His 
still elegant mansion 
adorns one of the 
handsomest streets in 
Portsmouth.' Wash- 
ington, when there, 
considered it the fin- 
est private house in 
the town. 

Langdon was six 
feet tall, with a very 
noble presen<:'e. Duke 
Rochefoucauld Lian- 
court mentions that 
he had followed the 
sea first as mate, 
then as master of a 
ship. He ultimately 

GOVERNOR langdon' S MANSION, PORTSMOUTH. 1 ,^ „ • * 

' became an emment 

merchant and ship-builder. A devoted patriot, he was one of the leaders in 
the first act of aggression committed by the Portsmouth Whigs against the 
ci'own. As the words of a man of action and a model legislator in time of 
invasion by a foreign enemy, his well-known speech to the New Hampshire 
Assembly is worth the quoting. This is his manner of cutting short useless de- 
bate : " Gentlemen, you may talk as much as you please ; but I know the en- 
emy is upon our frontiers, and I am going to take my pistols and mount my 
horse, and go and fight in the ranks of my fellow-citizens." And he did it. 

Yet a little more about Langdon. Chastellux relates that Avhen on his 
Avay to Gates's camp he was followed by a favorite slave. The negro, who 
beheld the energy with which his master pi-essed on, without other repose 
than could be snatched in the woods, said to him, at last, "Master, you un- 
dergo great hardships, but you go to fight for liberty. I also should suffer 
patiently if I had the same liberty to defend." "Then you shall have it," 
said John Langdon ; "from this moment I give you your freedom." 

Continental Agent Langdon became the superintendent of war ships or- 
dei'ed here by Congress. He presided at the building of the Ranger^ the Al- 
liance, and the America, the last a seventy-four gun ship, generously given 
to Louis XVI, for one of his lost on our coast. Paul Jones was much here; 
a brave braggart, quarreling with Langdon and Congress, writing quires of 



' In Pleasant, near Court Street. 



AT KITTERY POINT, MAINE. 151 

memorials, little esteemed among his peers, though a lion on his own quarter- 
deck. 

Though Langdon was a member elect "of the Old Congress, as his State 
stipulated that only two of the delegates were to go to Philadelphia, his does 
not appear among the names signed to the Declaration. Matthew Thornton, 
elected after Langdon, was allowed to sign when he took his seat in Novem- 
ber. Langdon became an opponent of the measures and administration of 
Washington, joining with Jefterson, Pierce Butler, and a few others in or- 
ganizing the Republican party of that day. They had five votes in the Sen- 
ate. Li the House was Andrew Jackson, a member from Tennessee, Avho at- 
tracted little attention, though he voted with the small coterie of the Upper 
House, including Langdon, Butler, and Colonel Burr. 

Jacob Sheaffe, who in his day carried on a more extensive business than 
any other merchant iii Portsmouth, became the successor of Langdon as Gov- 
ernment agent. It is said he purchased the island wliere the Navy Yard now 
is. One of the six frigates ordered under Washington's administration was 
begun here. We had voted to build these vessels to punish tlie Algerine 
corsairs ; we then countermanded them ; afterward a treaty was made witli 
these pirates by which they were to have a new frigate of tliirty-two guns, 
which was laid down at Portsmouth. 

The family name of Sheaffe was once much more familiar in New England 
than now. It was of Peggy Sheaffe, a celebrated Boston beauty, that Baron 
Steuben perpetrated the following mot: When introduced to lier at the house 
of Mrs. Livingstone, mother of the chancellor, the baron exclaimed, in his 
broken English, " I have been cautioned from my youth against Mischief, but 
had no idea her charms were so irresistible." 

Kittery is mentioned by Josselyn as the most populous of all the planta- 
tions in the Province of Maine. It engrosses the left bank of the Piscataqua 
from the great bridge at Portsmouth to the sea. The booming of guns at the 
Navy Yard often announces the presence of some dignitary, yet none, I fancy, 
more distinguished than Washington have set foot in Kittery. I regret he 
has not much to say of it, but more of the fishing-party of which he was, at 
the moment, a member. 

"Having lines," he says, "we proceeded to the fishing banks without 
the harbor, and fished for cod, but it not being a proper time of tide, we 
caught but two." The impregnable character of the President for truthful- 
ness forbids the presumption that want of skill had aught to do with his ill- 
luck. 

It would be matter for general regret if tlie selectmen of Kittery should 
again, as long ago happened, be presented by a grand jury for not taking 
care that their children were taught their catechism, and educated according 
to law. The number of steeples and school-houses seen by the way inilicates, 
in this respect, a healthy public opinion. Kittery church-yard contains many 



152 



THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 



mute appeals to linger and glean its dead secrets. Mrs. Thaxter sweetly 
sings as she felt the story of one of these mildewed stones : 

" Crushing the scarlet strawberries in the grass, 
I kneel to read the slanting stone. Alas! 
How sharp a sorrow speaks! A hundred years 
And more have vanished, with their smiles and tears, 
Since here was laid, upon an April day, 
Sweet Mary Chauncey in the grave away, 
A hundred years since here her lover stood 
Beside her grave." * * * 

I found both banks of the Piscataqua charming. The hotels at Newcastle, 
Kittery, Old York, etc., are of the smaller class, adapted to the comfortable 
entertainment of families ; and as they are removed from the intrusion of 
that disagreeable constituent of city life known over-seas as the " swell mob," 
real comfort is attainable. They are not faultless, but one may always con- 
fidently reckon on a good bed, a polite, accommodating host, and well-pro- 
vided table. 






WHALE S-BACK LIGHT. 



CHAPTER XL 



THE ISLES OF SHOALS. 

" O warning lights, bnrn bright and clear, 
Hither the storm comes I Leagues away 
It moans and thunders low and drear — 
Burn 'til the break of day!" 

Celia Thaxter. 

ON" the loth of July, 1605, as the sun was declining in the west, a little 
bavk of fifteen tons, manned by Frenchmen, was standing along the 
coast of New England, in quest of a situation to begin a settlement. The 
principal personage on board was Pierre du Guast, Sieur de Monts, a noble 
gentleman, and an officer of the household of Henry IV. His commission of 
lieutenant-general bore date at Fontainebleau in the year 1603. He was em- 



154 



THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 




\\ 




POUTSMOUTH AND THE ISLES OF SHOALS. 



powered by it to col- 
onize Acadia from 
tlie fortieth to tlie 
forty-sixth parallel, 
ill vii'tue of the dis- 
coveries of the Tus- 
can, Verazzaiii. It 
recited, in quaint 
old French, that Du 
Guast had already 
made several voy- 
ages to these and 
other iieighboiino- 
countries, of which 
he liad knowledge 
and experience.' The 
commission likewise 
conferred authoi'ity 
to make war or peace with the peoples inhabiting the 
country of Acadia, with sole power to traffic in skins and 
furs for ten years in the Bay of St. Clair and the river 
of Canada. The broad autograph of Henry and the great 
seal of yellow wax are appended to the parchment. 

On board the bark, besides the leader of the expedi- 
tion, were a few gentlemen adventurers and twenty sail- 
ors. The name of De Monts's pilot was Champdore.^ 
The geographer of the expedition was Samuel Champlain. 
Accompanying De Monts, as guides and interpreters, were 
two natives, Panonnias and his wife. 

Since the 15th of June De Monts had been minutely examining the New 
England coast from St. Croix, where he had wintered, to near the forty-third 
parallel, in the hope of finding "a place more suitable for habitation and of a 
milder temperature" than the inhospitable region he had first pitched upon. 
The greater part of De Monts's colony remained at the Isle of St. Croix. 

After leaving the mouth of the Saco, and looking in at the entrance of 



* "Et en la connoissance et experience que vous avez de la qualite, condition et situation dndit 
pais de la Cadie, pour les diverses navigations, voyages, et frequentatious que vous avez faits en ces 
terres et autres proches et circonvoisines." 

^ Williamson erroneously calls Cluunplain the pilot. 



THE ISLES OF SHOALS. I55 

Ivennebunk River, De Monts, still keeping as close in as was prudent with the 
land, which Chaniplain describes as flat and sandy {^platte et sahloueuse), 
found himself on that July afternoon in presence of three striking land- 
marks.' Cape Ann bore south, a quarter east, six leagues distant. To the 
west was a deep bay into which, the savages afterward told hitn, a river 
emptied ; and in the ofting they perceived three or four islands of fair ele- 
vation. These last, historians agree, were the Isles of Shoals. 

Xotwithstanding the isles are not identified on either of Chaniplain's maps 
(]61'2 and 1632), it is no longer doubtful that De Monts made them out nine 
years before Smith saw them, though the latter has first given them on a 
map a locality and a name. But I take Pring to have been the first to men- 
tion them, when, two years before De Monts, lie sighted a multitude of small 
islands in about forty-three degrees, and anchored under the shelter of the 
greatest.^ Gosnold must have seen the isles, but thought them hardly worth 
entering in his log. Prince Charles, afterward Cliarles I., graciously confirmed 
the name Smith had, in 1614, given the isles. Yet he has little or no title to 
be considered their discoverer, and has left no evidence that he ever landed 
upon them. The French, Smith relates, had two ships forty leagues to the 
westward (of Monhegan) that had made great trade while he was on the 
coast. Beyond all these, the Basque shallop seen in these waters by Gosnold 
remains a nut for historians to crack. 

De Poutrincourt's expedition of 1606 into Massachusetts Bay was the 
sequel to that of 1605. De Monts, a heretic, through the jealousy of rivals 
and Jesuit intrigue, was soon deprived of the privileges with which he had 
been endowed by his fickle monarch. In this his experience was not unlike 
that of Gorges and the Council of Plymouth. De Monts was really the 
head of a commercial company, organized by Chauvin, governor of Dieppe.^ 
The detail of his voyage along the New England coast in 1605 is the first 
intelligible record to be found. Shall we not, at last, have to do the tardy 
justice of acknowledging him the chief and guiding spirit of the expedi- 
tion, now universally referred to as Chaniplain's? The latter has become 
the prominent figure, while Du Guast is not even mentioned in some of our 
so-called school histories. 

Christopher Levett is the first Englishman to give an account of the isles 
■worthy of the name. Its brevity may be advantageously contrasted with 
later descriptions, though the natural features remain, in many respects, the 
same. He says, writing seven years after Captain Smith : 

' A little book I have seen translates rather freely in making Champlain say ' ' and on tlie west 
Ipswitch Bay." See p. 122 for Champlain's exact language. 

" Pring came to the main-land in forty-tlu'ee and a half degrees — his farthest point westward on 
this voyage — and worked along tiie coast to the south-west. I know of no other islands between 
Cape Ann and his land-fall answering his description. 

^ De Monts sailed from Havre de Grace ]\Iarch 7th, IGOi. 



156 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 

"The first place I set my foot upon in New England was the Isle of 
Shoals, being islands in the sea about two leagues from the main. 

" Upon these islands I neither could see one good timber - tree nor so 
much good ground as to make a garden. 

"The place is found to be a good fishing-place for six ships, but more can 
not well be there, for want of convenient stage room, as this year's experience 
hath proved." 

The year 1623 is the earliest date I have seen of the islands being occu- 
pied as a fishing station. Monhegan was earlier known, and more frequented 
by English vessels for this purpose. A word or two about the fishery of 
those days. 

Cabot notices the cod under the name of " bacalo ;" Jean Alfonse speaks 
of the "bacaillos;" Captain Uring calls it "baccalew;" the Indian name was 
"tamwock." Smith says the fish on our coast were much better than those 
taken at Newfoundland, which he styles " poor John," a nickname ever since 
current up the Mediterranean. One of his ships, in 1614, loaded with dry 
fish for Spain, where the cargo brought "forty ryalls," or five dollars, the 
quintal. Fifteen or eighteen men, by his relation, took with the hook alone 
sixty thousand fish in a month. 

Charlevoix believed this fish could turn itself inside out, like a pocket. 
He says they found bits of iron and glass, and even pieces of broken pots, in 
the stomachs of fish caught on the Banks of Newfoundland ; and adds that 
some people believed they could digest them. Josselyn says the fishermen 
used to tan their sails and nets with hemlock-bark to preserve them. 

Allusion has been made to the number of fishermen frequenting the Grand 
Banks in 1578. Without the evidence few would be willing to believe the 
fishery had attained such proportions at that early day, on a coast we have 
been accustomed to regard as almost unknown. It certainly goes verj'^ far 
toward dispelling illusions respecting the knowledge that was had of our 
own shores by those adventurous " toilers of the sea." 

In Captain Richard Whitbourne's relation of his voyages and observations 
in Newfoundland (Purchas, vol. iv., p. 1882), he says: 

"More than four hundred sail of fishing ships were annually sent to the 
Grand Banks by the French and Portuguese, making two voyages a year, 
fishing winter and summer. 

"In the year 1615, when I was at Newfoundland," he adds, " there were 
then on that coast of your Majestie's subjects two hundred and fiftie saile of 
ships, great and small. The burthens and tonnage of them all, one with an- 
other, so neere as I could take notice, allowing every ship to be at least three- 
score tun (for as some of them contained lesse, so many of them held more), 
amounting to more than 15,000 tunnes. Now, for every three-score tun bur- 
then, according to the usual manning of ships in those voyages, agreeing with 
the note I then tooke, there are to be set doune twentie men and boyes; by 



THE ISLES OF SHOALS. I57 

which computation in these two liundred and fiftio saile tliere were no lesse 
than five thousand persons." 

De Poutrincourt, writing to Paris in 1618 from Port Royal, estimates the 
fishery to be then worth a '■^ tnllUon cVor'''' annually to France. He declares 
he would not exchange Canada for Peru if it were once seriously settled ; and 
foreshadows the designs of the English on New France as soon as they should 
have made themselves strong in Virginia. By a royal edict of 1669 the 
French fishermen of New France were allowed to land their fish in all the 
ports of the mother country, except Havre, freo^of duty. 

The advantages possessed by the Isles of Shoals were deep water, with a 
reasonably secure haven for ships, free from molestation by the savages, while 
the crews were engaged in taking and curing their fish. To this ought to be 
added their nearness to the best fishing grounds. All along shore the islands 
were, as a rule, earlier frequented than the main-land. Levett says (and he 
thought it a fatal objection) the ships that fished at Cape Ann in 1623 had 
to send their boats ticenty miles to take their fish, and the masters were in 
great fear of not making their voyages. "I fear there hath been too fair a 
gloss set upon Cape Ann," writes Levett. 

La Hontan, writing from Quebec in 1683, says of the cod-fishery on the 
Banks of Newfoundland : "You can scarce ima<j;ine what quantities of cod- 
fish were catch'd there by our seamen in the space of a quarter of an hour; 
for though we had thirty-two fathom water, yet the hook was no sooner at 
the bottom than the fish was catch'd ; so that they had nothing to do but to 
throw in and take up without interruption. But, after all, such is the mis- 
fortune of this fishery that it does not succeed but upon certain banks, which 
ai"e commonly past over without stopping. However, as we were plentiful- 
ly entertain'd at the cost of these fishes, so such of 'em as continued in the 
sea made sufiicient reprisals on the corpse of a captain and of several sol- 
diers who died of the scurvy, and were thrown overboard three or four days 
after." 

It is worthy of note that the Trial, the first vessel built in Boston, took a 
lading offish to Bilboa, in 1643, that were sold to good profit. From thence 
she took freight for Malaga, and brought home wine, oil, fruit, iron, etc. She 
was then sent to trade with La Tour and Acadia. The Trial was of about a 
hundred and sixty tons burden,' In the year 1700 there Avere two hundred 
New England vessels loaded in Acadia Avith fish. The cargoes were taken 
to Boston, and there distributed to different parts of the Avorld. 

After the isles became permanently inhabited the fishery continued pros- 
perous, and by 1730 three or four vessels were annually loaded for Bilboa. 
Before the Revolution seven or eight schooners hailed from the islands, but 
from this period the fishery dates its decay. In 1800 only shore-fishing was 

' Winthrop's "Journal." 



158 



THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 



pursued, which employed thirteen whale-boats similar to those now in use, 
and the best of all boats in a sea. 

Besides the fish itself, the liver of the cod, as is well known, is saved for 
the oil it contains. Hake sounds are of greater value than the fish, being 
extensively used in the manuficture of isinglass. The efficacy of the cod's 
liver was early known. "Their livers and sounds eaten," says an old writer, 
" is a good medicine for to restore them that have melted their grease." 

The interest with which the obscure lives of these islanders and the clus- 
ter of inhosjiitable rocks on v which they dwell are invested is remarkable 
enough. It may be in a measure owing to the irregular intercourse former- 
ly held with the main-land, and to the consequently limited knowledge of 
them. And it is heiglitened in no small degree by the mystery of a resi- 
dence in the midst of the sea, where all ties with the adjacent continent 
would seem to be dissevered. But if the open Polar Sea be a fact and 
not a myth, the continents are themselves but larger islands with more ex- 
panded horizons. 

I happened one day to be in Portsmouth. Entre nous, if you want to 

be esteemed there 
you must say 
" Porchmouth,"as 
even the letter- 
ed of that ilk do. 
The morning air 
liad been fi-esh- 
encd and sweet- 
ened by cojiions 
showers; little 
pools stood in the 
streets, and every 

blade of grass was tipped with a crystal rain-drop. Old Probabilities had 
foretold clearing weather. Every thing seemed propitious, except that it 
continued to rain " pitchforks," with the tines downward, and that the Avind 
was steadily working round to the eastward. As the struggle between foul 
and fair seemed at length to incline to the latter, I went down to the wharf 
to find the packet for the Shoals had already unmoored, and was standing 
across the river. Unloosing a dory that was lying conveniently near, I 
boarded the Marie as she came about, thus putting myself en rapj)ort with 
the Shoals by means of this little floating bridge, or island, as you may please 
to have it. 

It being the first day of summer, the passengers were so few as to be 
easily taken in at a glance. They were chiefly workmen employed on the 
great hotel at Star Island, or, as they chose to style themselves, convicts 
going into servitude on a desert rock : so cheaply did they hold the attrac- 




SUAG AND MINCiO KOt:K8, DICK I>i.ANI 



THE ISLES OF SHOALS. 15 9 

tlons of the isles. Perhaps one or two of the passengers had no more busi- 
ness at tlie islands than myself. 

It is not easy to have a more delightful sail than down the Piscataqua, or 
to find a more beautiful stream when its banks are clothed in green. It has 
often been described, and may again be, without fear of exhausting its capa- 
bilities. The movement of shipping to and fro; the shifting of objects as you 
glide by them, together with the historic renown Avith which its shores are 
incrusted, fill the eye while exciting the imagination. A few miles above 
Portsmouth the river expands into a broad basin, which receives the volume 
of tide, and then pours it into the sea between narrow banks. 

We gained the narrows of the river with Peirce's Island on the right and 
Seavey's on the left, each crowned with grass-grown batteries thrown up in 
the Revolution to defend the pass. Here the stream is not a good rifle-shot 
in breadth, and moves with increased velocity within the contracted space, 
the swirl and eddying of the current resembling the boiling of a huge cal- 
dron. Its surface is ringed with miniature whirlpools, and at flood-tide the 
mid-channel seems lifted above the level of the river, as I have seen tlie 
mighty volume of the Missouri during its annual rise. It is not strange the 
place should have received the anathemas of mariners from immemoi-ial time, 
or boast a name so unconventional withal as Pull-and-be-d — d Point. 

Clearing the narrows, we left behind us the city steeples, the big ship- 
houses, lazy war ships, and tall chimneys on Kittery side. The wind being 
light, the skipper got up a stay-sail from the fore-hatch. As it was bent to 
the halyards, a bottle labeled "ginger ale," but smelling uncommonly like 
schnapps, rolled out of its folds. We were now slowly forging past Xew- 
castle, or Great Island. The sun came out gloriously, lighting up the spire 
of the little church at Kittery Point and the masts of vessels lying at anchor 
in the roads. 

Glancing astern, I remarked four wherries coming down at a great pace 
with the ebb. They kept directly abreast of each other, as if moved by a 
single oarsman, while the rowers talked and laughed as they might have done 
on the pavement ashore. I could see by the crates piled in the stern of each 
boat that they were lobstermen, going outside to look after their traps. As 
they went by they seemed so many huge water-spiders skimming the sur- 
face of the river. 

Fort Constitution, with its dismantled walls and frowning port-holes, is 
now passed, and Whale's Back, Avith twin light-houses, shows its ledges above 
water. We open the mouth of the river with Odiorne's Point on the star- 
board and Gerrish's Island on the port bow, the swell of ocean lifting our 
little bark, and making her courtesy to the great deep. 

The islands had appeared in view when we were oflf Newcastle, the hotel 
on Star Island, where it loomed like some gray sea-fortress, being the most 
conspicuous object. As we ran off the shore, the " cape of the main-land " and 



160 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 

the ^^ cul-de-sac'''' of Champlain came out, and fixed themselves wlieve he had 
seen them. One by one the islands emerged from the dark mass that involved 
the whole, and became individuals. The wind dying away off Duck Island, I 
was fain to take an oar in the whale-boat towing astern. We rowed along 
under Appledore into the little haven between that island and Star, with no 
sound but the dip of our oars to break the stillness, and beached our boat 
as the evening shadows Avere deepening over a stormy sea. 

There had been a striking sunset. Great banks of clouds were massed 
above the western horizon, showing rifts of molten gold where the sun burst 
through, which the sea, in its turn, reflected. As I looked over toward White 
Island, the lamps were lighted in the tower, turning their rays hither and 
thither over a blackness that recalled Poe's sensuous imagery of lamp-light 
gloating over purple velvet. The weather-wise predicted a north-easter, and 
I went to bed with the old sea " moaning all round about the island." 

I passed my first night, and a rude one it was, on Stai- Island. When I 
arose in the morning and looked out I fancied myself at sea, as indeed I was. 
The ocean was on every side, the plash of the waters being the last sound 
heard at night and the first on waking. I saw the sun rise over Smutty 
Nose through the same storm-clouds in which it had set at evening. I am 
an early riser, but even before I was astir a wherry crossed the little harbor 
my window overlooked. 

The islands lie in two States, and are seven in number. Duck Island, 
the most dangerous of the group ; Appledore, sometimes called Hog Island ; 
Smutty Nose, or Haley's, and Cedar, belong to Maine; Star, White, and Lon- 
doner's, or Lounging Island, are in New Hampshire. Appledore is the largest, 
and Cedar the smallest. In one instance I have known Star called Staten 
Island, though it was formerly better known as Gosport, the name of its fish- 
ing village, whose records go back to 1731. Counting Malaga, a little islet 
attached to Smutty Nose by a breakwater, and there are eight islands in 
the cluster. They are nine miles south-east of the entrance of the Piscataqua 
and twenty-one north-east from Newburyport Light. The harbor, originally 
formed by Appledore, Star, and Haley's Islands, was made more secure by a 
sea-wall, now much out of repair, from Smutty Nose to Cedar Island. The 
roadstead is open to the south-west, and is indifferently sheltered at best. 
Between Cedar and Star is a narrow passage used by small craft, through 
which the tide runs as in a sluice-way. The group is environed Avith several 
dangerous sunken rocks. Square Rock is to the Avestward of Londoner's; 
White Island Ledge south-west of that isle ; Anderson's Ledge is south-east 
of Star Island ; and Cedar Island Ledge south of Smutty Nose.' 



' Star Island is three-fourths of a mile long and half a mile wide; Wliite Island is also three- 
fourths of a mile in length. It is a mile and three quarters from Star Island. Londoner's is five- 
eighths of a mile in length, and one-eighth of a mile from Star Island. Duck Island 's seven- 



THE ISLES OF SHOALS. IGl 

The name of the Isles of Shoals is first mentioned by Christopher Levett, 
in his narrative of 1623. The mariners of his day must have known of tlie 
description and the map of Smith, but they seem to liave little aftected the 
name he gave the islands. It would not be unreasonable to infer that the 
group was known by its present name even before it was seen by Smith, and 
that his claims were of little weight with those matter-of-fact fishermen. 
Some writers have made a difiiculty of the meaning of the name, attributing 
it to the shoals, or schools, offish seen there as everywhere along the coast at 
certain seasons of the year. East of the islands, toward the open sea, there 
is laid down on old charts of the Province an extensive shoal called Jefl:Vey's 
Ledge, named jjcrhaps for one of the first inhabitants of the isles, and extend- 
ing in the direction of the coast from the latitude of Cape Porpoise to the 
southward of the Shoals. On either side of this shallow, which is not of great 
breadth, are soundings in seventy fathoms, while on the ledge the lead brings 
up coarse sand in thirty, thirty-five, ai]d forty-five fathoms. The presence 
of this reef tends to strengthen the theory that these islands, as well as the 
remarkable system of Casco Baj^, once formed part of the main-land. The 
earlier navigators who approached the coast, cautiously feeling their way 
with the lead, soon after passing over this shoal came in sight of the islands, 
M-hich, it is believed, served to mark its presence. Jefl'rey's Ledge has been 
a fishing-ground of much resort for the islanders since its first discovery,' 

To whatever cause science may attribute the origin of the isles, I was 
struck, at first sight, with their resemblance to the bald jieaks of a submerged 
volcano thrust upward out of the waters, the little harbor being its crater. 
The remarkable fissures traversing the crust of the sevei-al members of the 
group, in some cases nearly parallel with tiie shores, strengthens the impres- 
sion. In winter, or during violent storms, the savagery of these rocks, ex- 
posed to the full fury of the Atlantic, and surrounded by an almost pei'petual 
surf, is overwhelming. You can with difficulty believe the island on which 
you stand is not reeling beneath your feet. 

After exploring the shore and seeing with liis own eyes the deep gashes 
in its mailed garment, the basins hollowed out of gi'anite and flint, and the 
utter wantonness in which the sea has pitched about the fragments it has 
wrested from the solid rock, the futility of words in which to ex])ress this 
confusion comes home to the spectator. Mr. Hawthorne's idea greatly re- 
eighths of a mile in length, and tliree miles from Star Island meeting-house. Appledore is seven- 
eighths of a mile from Star, and a mile in length. Haley's, or Smutty Nose, is a mile in length, 
and five-eighths of a mile from Star Island meeting-house. Cedar Island is one-third of a mile 
long, and three-eighths of a mile distant from the meeting-house. The whole group contains some- 
tiiing in excess of six hundred acres. 

' The term "Shoals of Isles" seems rather far-fetched, and scarcely significant to English sail- 
ors familiar with the hundred and sixty islands of the Hebrides. I can find no instance of these 
isles having been so called. 

11 



162 THE NEW ENGLAND COx\ST. 

sembles the Indian legend of the origin of Nantucket. "As much as any- 
thing else," he says, " it seems as if some of the massive materials of the 
woi'ld remained superfluous after the Creator had finished, and were careless- 
ly thi'own down here, where the milliontli part of them emerge from the sea, 
and in the course of thousands of years have become partially bestrewn with 
a little soil." 

The old navigators stigmatized Labrador as the place to which Cain was 
banished, no vegetation being produced among the rocks but thorns and moss. 
What a subject White Island vv^ould make for a painting of the Deluge ! 

A Finlander with whom I parleyed told me his country could show ruder 
])laces than these isles, and that the winters there were longer and colder. 
Parson Tucke used to say the winters at the Shoals were "a thin undcr- 
waistcoat, warmer" than on the opposite main-land. Doubtless the Orkneys 
or Hebrides equal these islands in desolateness and wildness of aspect, but 
they could scarce surpass them. 

The islands are so alike in their natural features that a general descrip- 
tion of one will -i-pply to the rest of the cluster; and hence tlie first explored, 
so far as its crags, sea-caverns, and galleries are in question, is apt to make 
the strongest impression. But after closer acqtuiintance each of the seven is 
found to possess attractions, peculiarities even, of its own. They grow upon 
you and chai-m away your better judgment, until you find sermons, or what is 
better, in stones, and good health everywhere. The change comes over you 
imperceptibly, and you are metamorphosed for the time into a full-fledged 
"Shoaler," ready to climb a precipice or handle an oar with any native — I 
was about to say of the soil — but that would be quite too strong a figure 
for the Shoals. 

The little church on Star Island is usually first visited. When I was be- 
fore here, it was a strikingly picturesque object, surmounting the islands, and 
visible in clear weather twenty miles at sea. It is now dwarfed by tlie ho- 
tel, and is perhaps even no longer a sea-mark for the fishermen. Such quaint 
little turrets have I seen in old Dutch prints. The massive walls are of 
rough granite from the abundance of the isle. Its roof and tower are of 
wood, and, being here, what else could it have but a fish for its weather- 
vane ? The bell was used, while I was there, to call the workmen to tlieir 
daily labor; but its tones were always mournful, and vibrated with strange 
dissonance across the sea. 

The Avhitewash the interior walls had received was plentifully bespattered 
upon the wooden benches. In a deeply recessed window one of the tiny sea- 
birds that frequent the islands was beating the panes with its wings. I gave 
the little fellow liis liberty, but he did not stay for thanks. The church is 
not more than ten paces in length by six in breadth, yet was sufficient, no 
doubt, for all the church-goers of the seven islands. Its foundations are uoon 
a rock, and it is altogether a queer thing in an odd place. 



THE ISLES OF SHOALS. 163 

After the desertion of Appledore, a meeting-house was erected on Star 
Island, twenty-eight by forty-eight feet, with a bell. Mr. Moody, of Salis- 
bury, Massachusetts, was, in 1706, called to be the first minister there. lu 
1730 he was succeeded by Rev. John Tucke. 

Mather relates many anecdotes of Rev. John Brock, one of the earlj^ min- 
isters at the islands, in illustration of the efficacy of prayer. The child of one 
Arnold, he says, lay sick, so nearly dead that those present believed it had 
really expired; "but Mr. Brock, perceiving some life in it, goes to prayer, and 
in his prayer uses this expression, 'Lord, wilt thou not grant some sign before 
we leave prayer that thou wilt spare and heal this child? We can not leave 
thee 'til we have it.' The child sneez'd immediately." 





MEETING-HOUSE, STAR ISI-AND.' 

Going round the corner of the church, I came uj)on a coast pilot, peering 
through his glass for the smoke of a steamer, cable-freighted, that had been 
momentarily expected from Halifax for a week. His trim little boat lay in 
the harbor below us at her moorings. It was, he said, a favorite station from 
which to intercept inward-bound vessels. The pilot told me, with a quiet 
chuckle, of a coaster, manned by raw Irish hands, that had attempted in broad 
day to run into the harbor over the breakwater from Haley's to Cedar isl- 
and. They did not get in, he said ; but it being a full tide and smooth sea, 
the mole only knocked off the cut-water of their craft. 

Behind the meeting-house is the little school-house, in as dire confusion 

' Built in 1800, through the efforts of Dudley A. Tynp:, of Newburyport, Massachusetts. Ded- 
icated in November by Rev. Jedediah Jlorse, father of S. F. B. Morse. A school was for a time 
kept in it. 



164 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 

Avheii I saw it as any bad boy could have wished. The windows were sliat- 
tered, chairs and benches overturned, and a section of rusty stove-pipe hung 
from the ceiling, while tlie fragment of a Avall map, pressed into service as a 
window-curtain, was being scanned through tlie dingy glass by an urchin 
with a turn for geography. 

East of the church is a row of cottages, the remnant of the fishing village, 
serving to show what it was like before modern innovations had swept the 
moiety of ancient Gosport from the face of the island. Each had a bird- 
house on the peak of its gable. There was the semblance of regularity in 
tlie ai'rangement of these cottages, the school-house leading the van ; but 
they were nearly or quite all unpainted, these homely abodes of a rude people. 

On looking around, you perceived walled inclosures, some of them con- 
taining a little earth patched with green grass, but all thickly studded with 
boulders. Is it possible, you ask, that such a waste should ever be the cause 
of heart-burnings, or know the name of bond, mortgage, or warranty? Little 
did these impoverished islanders dream the day would come when their ster- 
ile rocks would be eagerly sought after by the fortunate jiossessors of abun- 
dance. 

Star Island formerly afforded pasturage for a few sheep and cows. There 
is a record of a woman who died at Gosport in 1795, aged ninety. She kept 
two cows, fed in winter on hay cut by her in summer with a knife among tlie 
rocks. Tlie cows were taken from her by the British in 1775, and killed, to 
the great grief of old Mrs. Pusley. Formei-ly there was more vegetation 
here, but at odd times the poor people have gathered and burned for fuel 
fully half the turf on the island. It is written in the book of records that 
the soil of the islands is gradually decreasing, and that a time would come 
when the dead must be buried in the sea or on the main-land. 

From the year 1775 until 1820, the tew inhabitants who remained on the 
islands lived in a deplorable condition of ignorance and vice. Some of tliem 
had lost their ages for want of a record. Each family was a law to itself 
The town organization was abandoned. Even the marriage I'elation was for- 
gotten, and the restraints and usages of civilized life set at naught. Some 
of the more debased, about 1790, pulled down and burned the old meeting- 
house, which had been a prominent landmark for seamen; but, says the rec- 
ord, "the special judgments of Heaven seem to have followed this piece of 
wickedness to those immediately concerned in it." Tlie parsonage -house 
might have fared as ill, had it not been floated away to Old York by Mr. 
Tucke's son-in-law. 

Rev. Jedediah JNIorse has entered in the record two marriages solemnized 
by him during the time he was on the islands, with the following remai-ks: 
" The two couples above mentioned had been published eight or ten years 
ago (but not married), and cohabited together since, and had each a number 
of children. had been formerly married to another woman; she had 



THE ISLES OF SHOALS. 



105 



left him, and coliabited with lier uncle, by whom she has a number of chil- 
dren. No regular divorce had been obtained. Considering the peculiar de- 
ranged state of tlie people on these islands, and the ignorance of the parties, 
it Avas thought expedient, in order as far as possible to prevent future sin, to 
marry them,'" 




THE GRAVES, WITU CAPTAIN jOUN SMITH'S MONUMENT, STAH ISLAND. 

It is perhaps as well the visitor should be his own guide abotit the i'^lanc^- 
leaving it to chance to direct his footsteps. After an inspection of the more 
prominent objects, such as may be taken in at a glance from the little church, 
I wandered at will, encountering at every few steps some new surprise. Some 
one says, if we seek for pleasure it is pretty sure to elude our pursuit, coming 
oftener to us unawares, and the more unexpected the higher the gratification. 
It was in some such mood I stumbled, to speak literally, on the old burial- 
place of the islands. I am aware that one does not, as a rule, seek enjoyment 
in a grave-yard ; but I have ever found an unflagging interest in deciphering 
the tal)lets of a buried city or liamlet. These stones may be sententious or 
loquacious, pompous or humble, and sometimes grimly merry. 



' For more than a centniT previous to the EevoUition tlie islands were prosperous, containing 
from three to six hundred souls. In 1800 there were three fomilies and twenty persons on Smutty 
Nose : fifteen families and ninety-two persons on Star Island, alias Gosport ; eleven dwellings and 
ten fish-houses on the latter, and three decent dwellings on the former. At this time there was 
not an inhabitant on Appledore, alias Hog Island. 



166 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 

Our German friends call the church-yard " God's Field." Here are no in- 
scriptions, except on the liorizontal slabs of Tncke and Stephens. There is no 
difference between the rough stones protruding from the ground and the frag- 
ments strewn broadcast about the little house-lots. So far as this inclosure is 
concerned, the annals of the hamlet are as a closed book. The instinct which 
bids you forbear treading on a grave is at fault here. It requires sharp eyes 
and a close scrutiny to discover that some effort has been made to distinguish 
this handful of graves by head and foot stones ; that some are of greater and 
some of lesser length ; or that the little hollows and hillocks have their secret 
meaning. 

The two shepherds lie at the head of their little fold, in vaults composed 
of the rude masses found ready at hand. For fear their inscriptions might 
one day be eflfaced, I transcribed them : 

In Memory of 

THE REV. JOSIAH STEPHENS, 

A faithful Instructor of Youth, and pious 

Minister of Jesus Christ. 

Supported on this Island by the 

Society for Propagating the Gospel, 

who died July 2, 1804. 

Aged 64 years. 

Likewise of 

MRS. SUSANNAH STEPHENS, 

his beloved Wife, 

who died Dec. 7, 1810. 

Aged 54 years. 



Underneath 

are the Remains of 

THE REV. JOHN TUCKE, A.M. 

He graduated at Harvard College, A.D. 1723, 

Was ordained here July 26, 1732, 

And died Aug. 12, 1773. 

^t. 72. 

He was affable and polite in his manner. 

Amiable in his disposition. 

Of great piety and integrity, given to hospitality, 

Diligent and faithful in his pastoral office. 

Well learned in History and Geography, as well as 

General Science, 

And a careful Physician both to the bodies 

and the souls of his People. 

Erected 1800. In Memory of the Just, 



THE ISLES OF SHOALS. 167 

For two-score years tliis pious man labored in his stony vineyard. His 
])arishioners agreed to give him a quintal per man of winter fish — their best. 
They covenanted to carry las wood from the landing home ibr him. With 
this he was content. lie was their minister, teacher, physician, and even 
kept the accounts of a little store in a scrupulously exact way, I have been 
])oring over his old-time chirography, clear-cut and beautiful as cojiper-plate. 
There are the good old English names of Ruth, Nabby, and Judy, of Betty, 
Patse}', and Love. We get a glimpse of tlieir household economy in the por- 
ringers, pewter lamps, and pint-pots; the horn combs, thread, tape, and end- 
less rows of pins for women-folk ; the knitting-needles that clicked by the 
fireside in long winter nights, while the lads were away on Jeff"rey's Ledge. 

From liere I wended my way to Smitli's monument, erected in 1864, a tri- 
angular shaft of marble, rising eight or ten feet above a craggy rock. It is 
j)laced on a pedestal of rough stone, and protected b}^ a railing from vandal 
hands. Its situation on one of the highest eminences of Star Island has ex- 
posed the inscription to the weather, until it is become diflicult to decijjher. 
Tiie three sides of the pillar are occupied by a lengthy eulogium on this hero 
of many adventures. 

Of moving accidents by flood and field ; 

Of liair-breadth scapes i' the imminent deadly breach." 

Like Temple Bar of old, the monument is crowned with heads — those of 
the three Moslems slain by Smith, and seen on his scutcheon, as given by 
Stow, where they are also quartered. I know of no other instance of decapi- 
tated heads being set up in New England since King Philip's was struck oflf 
and stuck on a pike at Plymouth, in 1676. Two of the heads had fallen 
down, and the third seemed inclined to follow. Then the monument will be 
as headless as the doughty captain's tombstone in the pavement of St. Sepul- 
chre's, worn smooth by many feet. In brief, the three Turks' heads stick no 
better than the name given by Smith to the islands oiF Cape Ann — after they 
had been named by De Monts. 

Smith says he had six or seven charts or maps of the coast so unlike each 
other as to do him no more good than waste paper. He gives credit to Gos- 
nold and Weymouth for their relations. 

A few rods south-east of the old burying-ground is a sheltered nook, in 
which are three little graves, wholly concealed by dwarf willows and wihl 
rose-bushes. They are tenanted by three children — "Jessie," two years; 
"Millie," four years; and "Mittie," seven years old — the daughters of Rev. 
George Beebe, some time missionary to these isles. Under the name of the 
little one last named are these touching, tearful words : " I don't want to die, 
but I'll do just as Jesus wants me to." A gentle hand has formed this re- 
treat, and protected it with a wooden fence. While I stood there a song- 
bird perched above the entrance and poured forth his matin lay. There is a 
third burial-place on the harbor side, but it lacks interest. 



IGS TFIE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 

Another historic spot* is tlie mined foi-t, on the west point of tlie island, 
overlooking the entrance to the roadstead. Its contour may be traced, and 
a little of the emhanknieut of one face remains. The well was filled to tlie 
curb with water. It once mounted nine four-pounder cannon, but at the be- 
ginning of the Revolution was dismantled, and tlie guns taken to Nevvlniry- 
l»ort. I suppose the inhabitants for a long time to have neglected precau- 
tions for defense, as Colonel Romer, in his report to the Lords of Trade, about 
1699, makes no mention of any fortification here. One of its terrible fuur- 
pounders would not now make a mouthful for our sea-coast ordnance. 

Continuing my walk by the shore, I came to the cavern popularly known 
as Betty Moody's Hole. It is formed by the lodgment of masses of rock, so 
as to cover one of the gulches common to the isle. Here, says tradition, Betty 
concealed herself, with her two children, while the Itulians were ravaging the 
isles and carrying many females into captivity. The story goes that the 
children, becoming frightened in the cavern, began to cry, whereat their in- 
human mother, in an excess of fear, strangled them both; others say she v.'as 
drowned here. The afl:air is said to have happened during Philip's War. I 
do not find it mentioned by either Mather or Hubbard.' At times dui-ing 
the fishing season there was hardly a man left upon the islands, a circum- 
stance well known to the Indians. 

A memoir extracted from the French archives gives a picture of the 
Isles in 1702, when an attack appears to have been meditated. "The Isles 
de Chnoles are about three leagues from Peskatoue to the south-south-east 
from the enibouchure of the river, where a great quantity of fish are taken. 
These are three isles in the form of a tripod, and at about a musket-shot one 
from the other." * * * "There are at these three islands about sixty fishing 
shallops, manned each by four men. Besides these are the masters of the 
fishing stages, and, as they are assisted by the women in taking care of the 
fish, there may be in all about two hundred and eighty men ; but it is neces- 
sary to observe that from Monday to Saturday there are hardly any left on 
shore, all being at sea on the fishing-grounds." 

Taking note of the ragged fissures, which ti'adition ascribes to the day 



' 1091. A considerable body of Eastern Indians came down from the interior, with the inten- 
tion of sacking the Isles of Shoals, but on August 4th came upon some English forces at Maqiioit, 
under Cajjtain March, and had a fight with them. This prevented their proceeding, and saved the 
Shoals. — " Magnalia," vol. xi., p. Gil. 

1692. Governor Fletcher examined three deserters, or renegadoes, as he calls them, from Que- 
bec, who came before him September 23d. They said two men-of-war had arrived at Quebec, and 
were fitting out for an expedition along the coast, "with a design to fall on Wells, Isle of Shoals, 
riscataqua, etc." — " New York Colonial Documents," vol. iii., p. 855. 

1721. After the Indians had cut off Captain Winslow and thirteen of his men in the Eiver St. 
George, encouraged by this success, the enemy made a still greater attempt by water, and seized 
two shallops at the Isles of Shoals. — Hutchinson's "Massachusetts," vol. ii., p. 307. 



THE ISLES OF SHOALS. 



169 




of tlie Crucifixion, 
I clambered down 
one of the rocky 
o-orges from wli ich 
the softer forma- 
tion has been eat- 
en out by tlie 
consuming appe- 
tite of the waves. 
Sometimes the de- 
scent was made 
easy by irreguhir 
stei)S of trap-rock, 
and again a flying 
leap was necessa- 
vy from stone to 
stone. The per- 
pendicular walls 
of the gorge rose 
near fifty feet at 
its outlet, at the 
shore It was a gokge, star island. 

relief to emerge from the di'ipping sides and pent-up space into the open air. 
The Flume, on Star Island, is a fine specimen of the intrusion of igneous rock 
among the harder fornnition. 

If you- would know what the sea can do, go down one of these gulclies to 
the water's edge and be satisfied. I could not find a round pebble among 
the debris of shattered rock that lay tuml)led about; only fractured pieces of 
irregular shapes. Those rocks submerged by the tide were blackened as if 
by fire, and shagged with weed. Overhead the precipitous clifts caught the 
sun's i-ays on countless glittering points, the mica with which they are so 
plentifully bespangled dazzling the eye with its brilliancy. Elsewhere they 
were flint, of which there w'as more than enough to have furnished all Europe 
in the Thirty Years' War, or else granite. Looking up from among the ahat- 
tis which girds the isle about, you are confronted by masses of overhanging 
roclvs that threaten to detach themselves from the clifl" and bury you in 
their ruins. 

It is not for the timid to attempt a ramble among the rocks on the At- 
lantic side at low tide. He should be sure-footed and supple-jointed who un- 
dertakes it, with an eye to estimate the exact distance where the incoming 
surf-wave is to break. The illusions produced in the mind by the great 
waves that roll past are not the least striking sensations experienced. The 
speed with which they press in, and the noise accompanying their passage 



170 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 

tlirongli the gullies and rents of the shore, contribute to make them seem 
much larger than they really are. It was only by continually watching the 
waves and measuring their farthest reach that I was able to await one of 
these curling monstei's with composure; and even then I could not avoid 
looking suddenly round on hearing the rush of a breaker behind me ; and 
ever and anon one of greater volume destroyed all confidence by bursting far 
above the boundaries the mind had assigned for its utmost limits. 

Nothing struck me more than the idea of such miglity forces going to 
pure waste. A lifting power the Syracusan never dreamed of literally throw- 
ing itself away! An engine sufficient to turn all the machinei'y in Christen- 
dom lying idle at our very doors. What might not be accomplished if Old 
Neptuue would i)ut his shoulder to the wheel, instead of making all this mag- 
nificent but useless pother! 

I noticed that the waves, after churning themselves into foam, assumed 
emerald tints, and caught a momentary gleam of sapphire, melting into ame- 
thyst, during the rapid changes from the bluish-green of solid water to its 
greatest state of disintegration. The same change of color has been observed 
in the Hebrides, and elsewhere. 

The place that held for me more of fiiscination and sublimity than others 
was the bluff that looks out upon the vast ocean. I was often there. The 
swell of the Atlantic is not like the long regular roll of the Pacific, but it 
beats with steady rhythm. The grandest effects are produced after a heavy 
north-east blow, when the waves assume the larger and more flattened form 
known as the ground-swell. I was fortunate enough to stand on the cliff 
after three or four days of" easterly weather" had produced this effect. Such 
billows as poured with solid impact on the rocks, leaping twenty feet in the 
air, or heaped themselves in fountains of boiling foam around its base, give a 
competent idea of resistless power ! The shock and recoil seemed to shake 
the foundations of the island. 

Upon a shelf or platform of this cliff a young lady-teacher lost her life 
in September, 1848. Since then the rock on which she was seated has been 
called "Miss UnderhilTs Chair." Other accidents have occurred on the same 
spot, insufficient, it would seem, to prevent the foolhardy from risking their 
lives for a seat in this fatal chair. 

There are circumstances that cast a melancholy interest around the fate 
of Miss Underhill. In early life she had been betrothed, and the banns, as 
was then the custom, had been published in the village church. Her father, 
a stern old Quaker, opposed the match, threatening to tear down the marriage 
intention rather than see his daughter wed with one of another sect. Wheth- 
er from this or other cause, the suitor ceased his attentions, and not long after 
took another wife in the same village. 

The disappointment was believed to have made a deep impression on a 
girl of Miss Underhill's strength of character. She was a Methodist, deeply 



THE ISLES OF SHOALS. 171 

imbued with the relio-ious zeal of that deuomiiiation. Ilearinsj from one who 
had been at the Isles of Shoals that the people were in as great need of a 
missionary as those of Burmah or of the Gold Coast, it became an affair of 
conscience with her to go there and teach. 

She came to the islands, and applied herself with ardor to the Avork before 
her, a labor from which any but an enthusiast would have recoiled. It is as- 
serted that no spot of American soil contained so debased a community as 
this. 

It was her habit every pleasant day, at the close of school, to repair to 
the high cliff on the eastern shore of Star Island, where a rock conveniently 
placed by nature became her favorite seat. Here, with her Bible or other 
book, she was accustomed to pass the time in reading and contemplation. 
She was accompanied on her last visit by a gentleman, erroneously thought 
to have been her lover, who ventured on the rock with her, A tidal wave of 
unusual magnitude swept them from their feet. The gentleman succeeded in 
regaining his foothold, but the lady was no more seen. 

Search was made for the body without success. A week after the occur- 
rence it was found on York Beach, where the tide had left it. There was not 
the least disorder in the ill-fated lady's dress; the bonnet still covered her 
head, the ear-rings were in her ears, and her shawl was pinned across her 
breast. In a word, all was just as when she had set out for her walk. The 
kind-hearted man who found the poor waif took it home, and cared for it as if 
it had been his own dead. An advertisement caught the eye of Miss Under- 
hill's brother. She was carried to Chester, New Hampshire, her native place, 
and there buried. 

Notwithstanding the humble surroundings of her home, Miss Underhill 
was a person of superior and striking appeai-ance. Her face was winning 
and her self-possessed manner is still the talk of her old-time associates. 
I have heard, as a sequel to the school-teacher's story, that some years after 
tiie fatal accident her old suitor came to the Isles, and, while bathing there, 
was drowned. The recovery of the body of the lady uninjured seems little 
short of miraculous, and confirms the presence of a strong undcr-tow, as I had 
suspected on seeing the floats of the lobster-men moored within a few feet of 
the rocks. 

Schiller may have stood, in imagination, on some such crag as this when 
his wicked king flung his golden goblet into the mad sea, and with it the life 
of the hapless stripling who plunged, at his challenge, down into 

"The endless and measureless world of the deep." 

In a neighboring ravine I found a spring of fresh water, though rather 
brackish to the taste; and in the more sheltered places were heaps of mussel- 
shells, the outer surface of a beautiful purple. They look better where they 
are than in my cabinet, though the lining of those I secured have an enamel 



172 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 

oi' niotlier-of-pearl. Anotlier reniarkuble fL\ature I observed were the depos- 
its of gravel among tlie crevices; but I saw no flint among the water-woi-n 
bouhlers wedged, as if by a heavy pressure, in Assures of the rocks. I re- 
mai'ked also tlie presence of a poor schistus intersecting the strata here and 
there. Some of it I could break oft' with my hands. 

Anotlier delightful ramble is on the harbor side, from tlie old fort round 
to Caswell's Peak or beyond. Passing by the little hand-breadth of sandy 
beach where the dories may land, once paved, the chronicles tell us, many 
feet deep with fish-bones, I observed with pleasure the green oasis spread out 
between the hotel and the shore. Tlie proprietor seemed resolved that the 
very rocks should blossom, and already "a garden smiled" above the flint. 

There is a sight worth seeing from the cupola of the hotel; of the White 
Hills, and Agamenticus, with the sands of Rye, Hampton, and Squam strelrh- 
ing along shore. I could see the steeples of Portsmouth and of Xewbury- 
poit, the bluft" at Boar's Head, and the smoke of a score of inland villages. 
Following with the eye the soutli coast where it sweeps round Ipswich Bay 
one sees Csipe Ann and Tiiatcher's Island outlying; the gate-way of the busy 
bay beyond, into which all manner of craft were pressing sail. Northward 
were Newcastle, Kittery, and York, and farther eastward the lonely rock of 
Boon Island. Shoreward is Appledore, with the turret of its hotel visible 
above; and right below us the little harbor so often a welcome haven to the 
storm-tossed mariner.^ 

Most visitors to the islands are familiar with the terrible zicry of the 
wreck of the KoUingliam galley, of London, in the year 1710. She was 
bound into Boston, and having made the land to the eastward of the Piseat- 
aqua, shaped her course southward, driven before a north-east gale, accom- 
panied with rain, hail, and snow. For ten or twelve days succeeding they 
had no observation. On the night of the 11th of December, while under easy 
sail, the vessel struck on Boon Island. 

With great difficulty the crew gained the rocks. The ship having imme- 
diately broken up, they were able to recover nothing eatable, except three 
small cheeses found entangled among the rock-weed. Some pieces of the 
spars and sails that came ashore gave them a temporary shelter, but every 



' Mountains seen off the coast : Agamenticus, twelve miles north of the entrance of the Piscat- 
a(|iia ; tliree inferior summits, known as Frost's Hills, at a less distance on the north-west. In New 
Hampsliire the first ridge is twenty or thirty miles from sea, in the towns of Barrington, Notting- 
ham, and Kochester — the summits known as Teneriffe, Saddleback, Tuckaway, etc. Their general 
name is the Blue Hills. Beyond these are . several detached summits — Mount Major, ]\Ioo>e 
Mountain, etc. ; also a third range farther inland, with Chocorua, Ossipee, and Kearsarge. In tlie 
lofty ridge, sejjarating the waters of the Merrimac and the Connecticut is Grand Monadnock, twen- 
ty-two miles east of the Connecticut River; thirty miles north of this is Sunapee, and forty-eight 
farther, Moosehillock. The ranges then trend away north-east, and are massed in the White 
Hills. 



THE ISLES OF SHOALS. 1V3 

tiling else had been carried away from the island by the strong drift. In a 
day or two tlie cook died. Day by day their sufferings from cold and hun- 
ger increased. The main-land being in full view befoi-e them, they built a 
boat and got it into the water. It was overset, and dashed in pieces against 
the rocks. One day they descried three boats in the ofBng, but no signals 
they were able to make could attract notice. Then, when reduced to a mis- 
erable band of emaciated, hopeless wretches, they undertook and with great 
labor constructed a raft, upon which two men ventured to attempt to reach 
the shore. Two days afterward it was found on the beach, with one of its 
crew lying dead at some distance. After this they were obliged to resort to 
cannibalism in order to sustain life, subsisting on the body of the carpenter, 
sparingly doled out to them by the captain's hand. To make an end of this 
chapter of horrors, the survivors were rescued after having been twenty-four 
days on the island. The raft Avas, after all, for them a messenger of preser- 
vation, for it induced a search for the builders. 

No one can read this narrative without feeling his sympathy strongly ex- 
cited for the brave John Deane, master of the wrecked vessel. He seemed 
possessed of more than human fortitude, and has told with a sailor's simple 
directness of his heroic struggle for life. His account was first published in 
1711, appended to a sermon by Cotton Mather. Deane afterward command- 
ed a ship of war in the service of the Czar, Peter the Great.' 

Few who have seen the light-house tower on this lonely rock, distant not 
more than a dozen miles from the coast, receiving daily and nightly obeisance 
of hundreds of passing sails, can realize that the story of the JSTottlngJiam 
could be true. It is a terrible injunction to keep the lamps trimmed and 
brightly burning.^ 

Proceeding onward in this direction,! came to the fish-houses that remain 
on the isle. Tubs of trawls, a barrel or two offish-oil, a pile of split fish, and 
the half of a hogshead, in which a " kentle" or so of " merchantable fish " had 
just been salted down, were here and there; a hand-barrow on which to carry 
the fish from the boat, a lobster-pot, and a pair of rusty scales, ought to be 
added to the inventory. Sou'-westers and suits of oil- skin clothing hung 
against the walls; and in the loft overhead were a spare block or two and a 
parcel of oars, evidently picked up adrift, there being no two of the same 
length. In some of the houses were whale-boats, that had been hauled up ti> 
be calked and painted, that the men were preparing to launch. They were 
all schooner-rigged, and some were decked over so as to fiirnish a little cuddy 
for bad weather. No more sea-worthy craft can be found, and under guid- 
ance of a practiced hand one will sail, as sea-folk say, "like a witch." They 

' John Ward Dean, of Boston, the accomplished antiquary, has elicited tliis and other facts rel- 
ative to his nninesake. 

" On Boone Island it is said there is no soil except what has been carried there. 



174 



THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 



usually contained a coil of lialf-inch line for the road, a "killick," and a brace 
of powder-kegs for the trawls. 

The process of curing, or, as it is called by the islanders, " saving," fish is 
familiar to all who live near the sea-shore, and has not changed in two hun- 
dred years. It is described rs practiced here in 1800, by Dr. Morse : 

"The fish, in the first place, are thrown from the boat in piles on the 
shore. The cutter then takes them and cuts their thi-oat, and rips open their 
bellies. In this state he hands them to the header, who takes out the entrails 
(detaching the livers, which are preserved for the sake of the oil they con- 
tain), and breaks olF their heads. Tiie splitter then takes out the backbone, 
and splits them completely open, and hands them to the salter, who salts 
and piles them in bulk, where they lie from ten to twenty hours, as is most 
convenient. The shoremen and the women then wash and spread them on 
the flakes. Here they remain three or four weeks, according to the weather, 
during which time they are often turned, piled in fagots, and then spread 
again, until they are completely cured for market." 

The "dun," or winter fish, formerly cured here, were larger and thicker 
than the summer fish. Great pains were taken in drying them, the fish- 
women often covei'ing the "fagots" with bed- quilts to keep them clean. 
Being cured in cold weather, they required but little salt, and were almost 
transi)arent when held up to the light. These fish sometimes weighed a huii- 
died pounds or more. The dun fish were of great esteem in Spain and in the 
Mediterranean ports, bringing the liighest price during Lent. They found 
their way to Madrid, where many a platter, smoking hot, has doubtless 
graced the table of the Escurial. In 1745 a quintal would sell for a guinea. 

In 1775 the revolting colonies, unable to protect the islands, ordered their 
abandonment. A few of the inhabitants remained, but the larger number 
removed to the near main-land, and were scattered among the neighboring 
towns. The Shoals became through the war a rendezvous for British ships. 
The last oftieial act of the last royal governor of New Hampshire was per- 
formed here in 1775, when Sir John Wentworth prorogued the Assembly of 
his nuvjesty's lost province. 





CLIFFS, WHITE ISLAND. 



CHAPTER XII. 

THE ISLES OF SHOALS COntluilcd. 

" — There be land-iats and water-rats, water tliieves and land tliievcs ; I mean ijirates. " — 
Merchant of Venice. 

"il /TY next excursion was to Smutty Nose, or Haley's. Seen fi-om Star Isl- 
-*-'^ and it sliows two eminences, with a little liamlet of four houses, all 
having their gable-ends toward the harbor, on the nearest rising ground. 
Uound the south-west point of Smutty Nose is tlie little haven already al- 
luded to in the previous cliapter, made b}^ building a causeway of stone over 
to Malaga, where formerly the sea ran through. This Mr. Samuel Haley did 
at his own cost, expending part of a handsome fortune on the woi-k. Into 
this little haven, we are told, many distressed vessels have put in and found 



17G TPIE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 

safe ancliorage. The chronicles, spealvuig by tlie pen of a fair ishander, say 
old Mr, Haley, in building a wall, turned over a large flat stone, beneath 
which lay four bars of solid silver; with whicli, adds tradition, he began his 
sea mole. I should have thought, had this precious discovery gained cur- 
lency, no stone would liave been left unturned by the islanders, and that 
Haley's wall might liave risen with magical celerity. 

It is certain these islands were in former times the resort of freebooters, 
with such names as Dixy Bull, Low, and Argall (a licensed and titled bucca- 
neer), who left the traces of their own lawlessness in the manner of life of tlu; 
islanders. It Avas a convenient place in which to relit or obtain fresh pro- 
visions without the asking of troublesome questions.' The pirates could ex- 
pect little booty from the fishei'men, but they often picked them up at sea to 
leplenisli their crews. 

In the year 1G89 two noted buccaneers, Thomas Hawkins and Thomas 
Pound, cruised on the coast of New England, committing many depredations. 
The Bay colony determined on their capture, and dispatched an armed sloop 
called the 3^avi/, Samuel Pease commander, Avhich put to sea in October of 
that year. Hearing the pirates had been cruising at the mouth of Buzzard's 
Bay, Captain Pease made all sail in that direction. The Mary overhauled 
the outlaw off Wood's Hole. Pease ran down to her, hailed, and ordered her 
to heave to. The freebooter ran up a blood-red flag in defiance, when the 
Mary fired a shot athwart her foi'efoot, and again hailed, with a demand to 
strike her colors. Pound, who stood upon liis quarter-deck, answered the hail 
with, "Come on, you dogs, and I will strike you." Waving his sword, his 
men poured a volley into the Mary, and the action for some time raged 
fiercely, no quarter being expected. Captain Pease at lengtli carried his ad- 
versary by boarding, receiving wounds in the hand-to-hand conflict of which 
he died. 

In 1723 the sloop Dol2)/th},ot' Ci\])e Ann, was taken on the Banks by Phil- 
lips, a noted pirate. The able-bodied of the Dolp/iin were foi-ced to join the 
pirate crew. Among the luckless fishermen was John Fillmore, of Ipswich. 
Phillips, to quiet their scruples, promised on his honor to set them at liberty 
at the end of three months. Finding no other ho])e of escape, for of course 
the liar and pirate never meant to keep his word, Fillmore, with tlie help 
of Edward Cheesman and an Indian, seizing his opportunity, killed three 
of the chief pirates, including Philli])S, on the spot. The rest of the crew, 

' 1670. The General Court being informed that there is a ship tiding in the road at the Isle 
of Siioales snspected to be a pirat, and hath jtirattically seized the sayd sliip and goods from some 
of the French nation in amity with tlie English, and doeth not come under comand, this Convt 
doeth declare and order that neither the sayd ship or goods or any of the company shall come into 
our jurisdiction, or be brought into any of om- ports, upon penalty of being seized upon and se- 
cured to answer what shall be objected against them. — "Massachusetts Colonial llecords," vol. iv., 
part ii., p. 441). 



THE ISLES OF SHOALS. IVV 

made np in part of pressed men, snbmitted, and the captured vessel was 
brought into Boston by tlie conquerors on the 3d of May, 1724. John Fill- 
more, the quasi pirate, was the great-grandfather of Millard FiHniore, thir- 
teenth President of the United States. 

It is affirmed on the authority of Charles Chauncy that Low once cap- 
tured some fishermen from the "Shoals." Disappointed, perliaps, in liis ex- 
]iectation of booty, he first caused tlie captives to be barbarously flogged, and 
afterward required each of them three times to curse Parson Mather or be 
hanged. The prisoners did not reject the alternative. 

No doubt these pirates had heard of the sermons Cotton Mather was in 
the habit of preaching before the execution of many of their confederates. 
In his time it was the custom to march condemned prisoners under a strong 
guard to some church on the Sabbath preceding the day on which they were 
to suffer. There, marshaled in the broad aisle, they listened to a discourse on 
the enormity of their crimes and the torments that awaited them in the other 
world, this being the manner in which the old divines administered the con- 
solations of religion to such desperate malefactors. 

New England could contribute a thick volume to the annals of piracy in 
the New World from the records of a hundred years subsequent to her set- 
tlement. The name of Kidd was long a bugbear with which to terrify way- 
ward children into obedience, and the search for his treasure continues, as we 
have seen, to this day. Bradish, Bellamy, and Quelch sailed these seas like 
true followers of those dreaded rovers who swept the English coasts, and sent 
their defiance to the king himself: 

"Go tell the King of England, go tell him thus from me, 
Though he reigns king o'er all the land, I will reign king at sea." 

They have still the ghost of a pii-ate on Appledore, one of Kidd's men. 
There has consequently been much seeking after treasure. The face of the 
spectre is " pale, and very dreadful" to behold; and its neck, it is averred, 
shows the livid mark of the hangman's noose. It answers to the name of 
"Old Bab." Once no islander could be found hardy enough to venture on 
Appledore after night-fall. I shrewdly suspect "Old Bab" to be in the pay 
of the Laightons. 

In 1700, Rear-admiral Benbow was lying at Piscataqua, with nine of Kidd's 
pirates on board for transportation to England. Robert Bradenham, Kidd's 
surgeon, says the Earl of Bellomont, was the " obstinatest and most harden- 
ed of 'em all." In the year 1726 the pirates "William Fly, Samuel Cole, and 
Henry Greenville were taken and put to death at Boston, after having been 
well preached to in Old Brattle Street by Dr. Colman. Fly, the captain, like 
a truculent knave, refused to come into church, and on the way to execu- 
tion bore himself with great bravado. lie jumped briskly into the cart with 
a nosegaj' in his hand, smiling and bowing to the spectators, as lie passed 

12 



1^8 



THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 



alonfT^ with real or affected unconcern. At the gallows he showed the same 
obstinacy until his face was covered.' 

The various legends relative to the corsairs, and the secreting of their ill- 
gotten gains among these rocks, would of themselves occupy a lengthy chap- 
ter; and the recital of the fearful sights and sounds which have confronted 
such as were hardy enough to seek for treasure would satisfy the most in- 
veterate marvel-monger in the land. 

Among others to wliom it is said these islands were known was the cele- 
brated Captain Teach, or Blackbeard, 
as he was often called. He is sup- 
posed to have buried immense treas- 
ure here, some of which, like Haley's 
ingots, has been dug up and appro- 
priated by the islanders. On one of 
his cruises, while lying off the Scottish 
coast waiting for a licli trader, he was 
boarded by a stranger, who came off 
in a small boat from the shore. The 
new-comer demanded to be led before 
tlie pirate chief, in whose cabin he re- 
mained some time shut up. At length 
Teach appeared on deck with the stran- 
ger, whom he introduced to the crew 
as a comrade. The vessel they were 
expecting soon came in sight, and after 
a bloody conflict became the prize of Blackbeard. It was determined by the 
corsair to man and arm the captured vessel. The unknown liad fought with 
undaunted bravery and address during the battle. He was given the com- 
mand of the prize. 

The stranger Scot was not long in gaining the bad eminence of being as 
good a pirate as his renowned commander. His crew thought him invinci- 
ble, and followed where he led. At last, after his a])petite for wealth had 
been satisfied by the rich booty of the Southern seas, he arrived on the coast 
of his native land. His boat was manned, and landed him on the beach near 
an humble dwelling, whence he soon returned, bearing in his arms the lifeless 
form of a woman. 

The pirate ship immediately set sail for America, and in due time dropped 
her anchor in the road of the Isles of Shoals, Here the crew passed tlieir 

' After execution the bodies of the pirates were taken to the little island in Boston harbor 
known as Nix's Mate, on which there is a monument. Fly was hung in chains, and the other two 
buried on the beach. The total disappearance of this island before the encroachments of the sea 
is the foundation of a legend. Bird Island, in the same harbor, on which pirates have been exe- 
cuted, has also disappeared. It formerly contained a considerable area. 




BLACKBEARD. THE PIRATE. 



THE ISLES OF SHOALS. 179 

time in secreting tlieir riclies and in caronsal. The commander's portion was' 
buried on an island apart from the rest. He roamed over the isles with liis 
beautiful companion, forgetful, it would seem, of his fearful trade, until one 
morning a sail was seen standing in for the islands. All was now activity 
on board the pirate ; but before getting under way the outlaw carried the 
maiden to the island where he had buried his treasure, and made lier take a 
fearful oath to guard the spot from mortals until his retui ii, were it not 'til 
doomsday. He then put to sea. 

The strange sail proved to be a warlike vessel in search of the freebooter. 
A long and desperate battle ensued, in which the cruiser at last silenced her 
adversary's guns. The vessels were grappled for a last struggle, when a ter- 
rific explosion strewed the sea with the fragments of both. Stung to mad- 
ness by defeat, knowing that if taken alive the gibbet awaited him, the rover 
had fired the magazine, involving friend and foe in a common fate. 

A few mangled wretches succeeded in reaching the islands, only to pei*- 
ish miserably, one by one, from cold and hunger. The pirate's mistress re- 
mained true to her oath to the last, or until she also succumbed to want and 
exposure. By report, she has been seen more than once on White Island — a 
tall, shapely figure, wrapped in a long sea-cloak, her head and neck uncovered, 
except by a profusion of golden hair. Her face is described as exquisitely 
rounded, but pale and still as marble. She takes her stand on the verge of a 
low, projecting point, gazing fixedly out upon the ocean in an attitude of in- 
tense expectation. A former race of fishermen avouched that her ghost was 
<looraed to haunt those rocks until the last trump shall sound, and that the 
ancient graves to be found on the islands were tenanted by Blackbeard's men.' 

These islands were also the favorite haunt of smugglers.^ Many a runlet 
of Canary has been "passed " here that never paid duty to king or Congress. 
It must have been a very paradise of free-traders, who, doubtless, had the sym- 
pathies of the inhabitants in their illicit traffic. "What a smuggler's isle!" 
was my mental ejaculation when I first set foot on Star Island ; what a re- 
treat for some Dirck Hatteraick or outlawed Jean Lafitte ! 

I rowed over to Smutty Xose in a wherry. The name has a rough sig- 



^ A somewhat more authentic naval conflict occurred during the war of 1812 with Great 
Britain, when the American privateer, Governor Plummer, was captured on Jeffrey's Ledge by a 
British cruiser, the Sir John Sherbroke. The American had previously made many captures. 
Off Newfoundland she sustained a hard fight with a vessel of twelve guns, sent out to take her. 
She also beat oif six barges sent on the same errand. 

- 1686. Ordered that no sliijips do unliver any part of their lading at the Isles of Shoals be- 
fore they have first entered with tlie Collector of H. M. Customs, and also with the officer receiv- 
ing his maJ9 imposts and revenues arising upon wine, sperm, &c., imported either in Boston, Salem, 
or Piscataqua ; and that ail shipps and vessells trading to the eastward of Cape Porpus shall enter 
at some of the aforesaid Ports, or at the town of Falmouth in the Prov. of Maine. — " Massachusetts 
Council Records," vol. i., p. 43. 



180 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 

nificance. Looking at the islands at low tide, they present well-defined belts 
of color. First is tlie dark line of submerged rock-weed, which led some acute 
fisherman to hit oif with efl:ect the more popular name of Haley's Island ; 
next comes a strip almost as green as the grass in the rocky pastures ; above 
these again, shaded into browns or dingy yellows, the rocks api)ear of a 
tawny hue, and then blanched to a ghastly whiteness, a little relieved by 
dusky patches of green. 

I remarked that the schooners of twenty or thirty tons' burden lying in 
the harbor were all at moorings, ready to run after a school of fish or away 
from a storm. It is only a few years since three of these vessels were blown 
from their moorings and stranded on the rocks of Smutty Nose and Appledore. 

In 1635 the ship Janies^ Captain Taylor, of Bristol, England, had a narrow 
escape from being wrecked here. After losing three anchors, she was with 
difiiculty guided past the great rocks into the open sea. The curious reader 
will find the details quaintly set forth in the jouinal of Rev. Richard Mather, 
the ancestor of a celebrated family of New England divines.' She had on 
board a hundred passengers for the Massachusetts Colony. 

While lying on our oars in this basin, where so many antique craft have 
been berthed, it is perhaps not amiss to allude to Thomas Morton, of Mount 
Wollaston,'* alias Merry Mount. To do so it will not only be necessary to 
clamber up the crumbling side of the ship in which he was being sent a 
prisoner to England, but to surmount prejudices equally decrepit, that, like 
the spectre of " Old Bab," continue to appear long after they have been de- 
cently gibbeted. The incident derives a certain interest from the fact that 
Morton's was the first instance of banishment in the New England colonies. 
The only consequence of Thomas Morton, of Cliflford's Inn, gent,, is due to 
the effort to cast obloquy upon the Pilgrims. 

In the year 1628 the ship Whale was riding at the Isles of Shoals, Morton 
having been seized by order of Plymouth Colony, and put on board for trans- 
portation to England. What manner of ship the Whale was may be gather- 
ed from Morton's own account of her. The inaster he calls "Mr. Weather- 
cock," and the ship "a pitiful, weather-beaten craft," in which he was "in 
more danger than Jonah in the whale's belly." 

The cause of Morton's banishment is often asserted to have been simply 
his licentious conduct, and what some have been pleased to call indulgence 
in such "hearty old English pastimes" as dancing about a May-pole, sing- 
ing songs of no doubtful import, holding high Avassail the while, like the mad, 
roystering rogues his followers were. The Pilgrim Fathers are indicted by 
a class of historians desirous of displaying to the world the intolerance of the 
"Plymouth Separatists," as distinguished from the liberality which marked 

' Boston, 1850: original in possession of Dorchester Antiquarian Society. 

^ Mount Wollaston, Quincy, Massachusetts ; present residence of John Quincy Adams, Esq. 



THE ISLES OF SHOALS. 181 

the religious views of the settlers east of the Mei-rimac. Our forefathers, say 
they, did not come to the New World for religious liberty, but to fish aud 
trade. 

Morton's offense is stated by Governor Bradford, in his letters to the 
Council for New England and to Sir F. Gorges, to have been the selling of 
arms and ammunition to the Indians in such quantities as to endanger the 
safety of the infant plantations. He was arrested, and his association of Mer- 
ry Mount broken up, after repeated and friendly efforts to dissuade him from 
this course had been met with insolence and bravado. It stands thus in Gov- 
ernor Bradford's letter-book : 

"^'o the IIo7iourahle his Majesty^s Council for N'eio England^ these^ Right 
Honourable and our very good Lords : 

"Necessity hath forced us, his Majesty's subjects of New England in gen- 
eral (after long patience), to take this course with this troublesome planter, 
Mr. Thomas Morton, whom we have sent unto your honours that you may be 
pleased to take that course with him which to your honourable wisdom shall 
seem fit ; who hath been often admonished not to trade or truck with the In- 
dians either pieces, powder, or shot, which yet he hath done, and duly makes 
provision to do, and could not be restrained, taking it in high scoi-n (as he 
speaks) that any here should controul therein. Now the genei-al weakness of 
us his Majesty's subjects, the strength of the Indians, and at this time their 
great preparations to do some affront upon us, and the evil example which it 
gives unto others, and having no subordinate general government under your 
honours in this land to restrain such misdemeanours, causeth us to be trouble- 
some to your Lordships to send this party unto you for remedy and redress 
hereof." 

The letter to Sir F. Gorges' is in greater detail, but its length prevents its 
insertion with the foregoing extract. The Governor of New Plymouth makes 
a similar allegation with regard to the fishing ships. It is noticeable that all 
the plantations took part in this affair, Piscataqua, the Isles of Shoals, Edward 
Hilton, and others paying their proportion of the expense of sending Morton 
out of the country. 

Morton's offense, therefore, was political and not religious, and his extradi- 
tion a measure of self-preservation, an inexorable law in 1628 to that handful 
of settlers. If, at the end of nearly two centuries and a half, the Government 
those Pilgrims contributed to found deemed it necessary to the public safety 
to banish individuals from its borders, how, then, may we challenge this act 
of a few men who dwelt in a wilderness, and worshiped their God with the 
Bible in one hand and a musket in the other? 

' See " Massachisetts Historical Collections," vol. iii., p. 63. 



182 



THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 



Morton defied the proclaraation of the king promulgated in 1622, saying 
there was no penalty attached to it. Its terms forbade " any to trade to the 
portion of America called New England, being the whole breadth of the land 
between forty and forty-eight degrees of north latitude, excepting those of 
the Virginia Company, the plantation having been much injured by interlo- 
pers, who have injured the woods, damaged the harbors, trafficked with the 
savages, and even sold them weapons, and taught them the use thereof.'" 

Of the May-pole, which the Pilgrims regarded with grim discontent, 
Stubbes gives the manner in England of bringing it home from the woods. 

"But," he says, "their cheefest Jewell they bring home with greate vener- 
ation, as thus: they have twentie or fourtie yoke of oxen, every oxe hav- 
yng a sweete nosegaie of flowers tyed on the tippe of his homes, and these 
oxen drawe home this Maie-poole, which is covered all over with flowers and 
hearbes, bounde rounde aboute with stringes from the top to the bottome, 
and sometyme painted with variable colours, with two or three hundred men, 
women, and children followyng it with great devotion. And thus beying 
reared up with handkercheifes and flagges streamyng on the toppe, they 
strawe the grounde aboute, binde green boughes about it, sett up Sommer 
haules. Bowers, and Arbours hard by. And then fall they to banquet and 
feast, to leape and dance aboute it, as the Heathen people did at the dedica- 
tion of their idoUes, whereof this is a perfect patterne, or rather the thynge 
itself." 




SMUTTY NOSE. 



Smutty Nose, the most verdant of the islands, was one of the earliest set- 
tled. The stranger for the first time feels something like soil beneath his 
feet. There is a wharf and a little landing-place, where a boat may be 



' British State Papers, Calendars. 



THE ISLES OF SHOALS. 



183 



beached. When witliin Haley's little cove, I looked down into the water, 
and saw the perch (dinners) swinuiiiiig- lazily about. This was the only 
place where the old-time industry of the isles showed even a fluke, so to 
speak, of its former greatness. There were a few men engaged in drying 
their fish near the landing. Clear weather with westerly winds is best for 
this purpose; dull or foggy weather spoils the fish. 




.^^X'^^fWi^' 



HALKY DOCK AND HOMESTEAD. 

(In the third House from the left the Waguer Murder was committed.) 

At a little distance, shorn of some of its former adornments, is the liome- 
stead of Samuel Haley, who with his two sons and their families occupied the 
island many years ago. Not far off is the little family grave-yard of the 
Ilaleys, with the palings falling in decay, and the mounds overgrown with a 
tangle of rank grass. At one time, by his energy, Mr. Haley had made of 
his island a self-sustaining possession. Before the Revolution he had built a 
windmill, salt-works, and rope-walk; a bakehouse, brewery, distillery, black- 
smith's and cooper's shops succeeded in the first year of peace — all ooing to 
decay within his lifetime. By all report of him, he was a good and humane 
man, and I hereby set up his prostrate grave-stone on my page: 

"IN MEMORY OF MR. SAMUEL HALEY 

Who died in the year i8il 

Aged 84 

He was a man of great Ingenuity 

Industry Honor and Honesty, true to his 

Country & A man who did A great 

Public good in Building A 

Dock & Receiving into his 

Enclosure many a poor 

Distressed Seaman & Fisherman 

In distress of Weather." 



184 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 

A few steps farther on are the graves of fourteen shipwrecked mariners, 
marked by rude boulders. It is entered in tlie Gosport records: " 181S, Jan. 
14#A, ship Sagunto stranded on Smutty Nose Isle; Jaji. 15^;/^, one man found; 
16?//, six men found; 2 Is?, seven men found." The record sums up the num- 
ber as twelve bodies found, whereas the total appears to be fourteen. 

Although the ship Sagunto was not stranded on Smutty Nose Isle, the 
wreck of a sliip, either Spanish or Portuguese, with all on board, remains a 
teri'ible fact but too well attested by these graves.' The horror of the event 
is deepened and strengthened by the simple word " Unknown." When this 
ship crashed and filled and went down, the Sagunto was lying, after a terrible 
buffeting, within a safe harbor. 

It was in a blinding snow-storm, and a gale that strewed the shore from 
the Penobscot to Hatteras with wrecks, that a ship built of cedar and ma- 
hogany was thrown on these rocks. Not a living soul was left to tell the 
tale of that bitter January night. Tiie ill-fated vessel was richly laden, no 
doubt, for boxes of raisins and almonds from Malaga drifted on shore the next 
morning. On a piece of the wreck that came in a silver watch of English 
make was found, with the letters "P. S." graven on the seals; and among the 
debiis was a Spanish and part of an American ensign, for it was war-time then 
between England and the American States. The watch had stopped at ex- 
actly four o'clock, or when time ceased for those hapless Spaniards. There 
were also found some twenty letters, addressed south of New York. Conjec- 
tui-e said it was a Spanish ship from Cadiz, bound for Philadelphia. 

This is the story of this little clump of graves, and of the wreck, to this 
day unknown. It has been told many times in prose and poetry, but not oft- 
en truly. Samuel Haley had been quietly l^Jng in his grave two years. The 
reader may or n\n,Y not believe he found the frozen bodies of some of the crew 
next morning reclining on his wall. Here is a wild flower of island growth, 
of a handful cast upon these fading mounds: 

"O sailors, did sweet eyes look after you 

Tlie day you sailed away from sunny Spain? 
Bright eyes that followed ftiding ship and crew, 
Melting in tender rain?" 

I wondered that these fourteen the old sea had strangled and flung up 
here could rest so peacefully in ground unblessed by Holy Church. Per- 
chance the spot has witnessed midnight mass, with incense and with missal : 
no doubt beads have been told, and 2i pater and ave said by pious pilgrims. 



* Spanish ship Sagunto, Carrera, seventy-three days from Cadiz for New York, arrived at New- 
port on Monday, January 11th, out of provisions and water, and the crew frost-bitten. Cargo, 
wine, raisins, and salt. Saw no English cruisers, and spoke only one vessel, a Baltimore priva- 
teer. — Columbian Centinel, January' IGth, 1813. 



THE ISLES OF SHOALS. 185 

It is not pleasant to think that the island has become more widely known 
through the medium of an atrocious murder committed here in March, 18Y3. 
Formerly the islanders dated from some well-remembered wreck; now it is 
before or since the murder on Smutty Nose they reckon. 

On the morning of March 6th the Norwegian who lives opposite Star Isl- 
and, on Appledore, heard a cry for help. Going to the shore, he saw a wom- 
an standing on the rocks of Malaga in her night-dress. He crossed over and 
brought the poor creature to his cottage, when it appeared that her feet were 
frozen. She was half dead with fright and exposure, but told her tale as soon 
as she was able. 

John Hontvet, a fisherman, occupied one of the three houses on Smutty 
Nose ; the third counting from the Httle cove, as you look at it from Star Isl- 
and. On the night of the 5th of March he was at Portsmouth, leaving three 
women — Mary, his wife ; Annethe and Karen Christensen — at home. They 
went to bed as usual, Annethe with Mrs. Hontvet in the bedroom ; Karen on 
a couch in the kitchen. It was a fine moonlight night, though cold, and 
there was snow on the ground. 

Some time during the night a man entered the house, it is supposed for 
the purpose of robbery. He fastened the door between the kitchen, which he 
first entered, and the bedroom, thus isolating the sleeping women. Karen, 
having awoke, cried out, when she was attacked by the intruder with a chair. 
The noise having aroused the two women in the bedroom, Mary Hontvet 
jumped out of bed, forced open the door leading into the kitchen, and suc- 
ceeded in getting hold of the wounded girl, Karen, whom she drew within 
her own chamber. All this took place in the dark. Mary then bade Annethe, 
her brother's wife, to jump out of the window, and she did so, but was too 
much terrified to go beyond the corner of the house. Mary, meanwhile, was 
holding the door of the kitchen against the attemj3ts of their assailant to force 
it open. Foiled here, the villain left the house, and meeting the young wife, 
Annethe, was seen by Mary, in the clear moonlight, to deal her three terrible 
blows with an axe. But before she was struck down the girl had recognized 
her murderer, and shrieked out, " Louis, Louis !" 

After this accursed deed the man went back to the house, and Mary also 
made her escape by the window. Karen was too badly hurt to follow. The 
clear-grit Norwegian woman ran first to the dock, but finding no boat there, 
hid herself among the rocks. She durst not shout, for fear the sound of her 
voice would bring the murderer to the spot. There she remained, like anoth- 
er Betty Moody, until sunrise, when she took courage and went across the 
sea-wall to Malaga and was rescued, I was told that when she fled, with 
rare presence of mind, she took her little dog under her arm, for fear it might 
prove her destruction. 

It resulted that Louis Wagner, a Prussian, was arrested, tried for the mur- 
der, and condemned as guilty. The fatal recognition by Annethe, the figure 



186 



THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 



seen with uplifted axe through the wiudow by Mary, aud the prisoner's ab- 
sence from his lodgings on the night of the murder, pointed infallibly to him 
as the chief actor in this night of horrors. To have committed this crime he 
must have rowed from Portsmouth to the Islands and back again on tl»e night 
in question ; no great feat for one of those hardy islanders, and Wagner was 
noted for muscular strength. It is said he was of a churlish disposition, and 
would seldom speak unless addressed, when he would answer shortly. He 
was not considered a bad fellow, but a poor companion. 

I went to the house. lielic-hunters had left it in a sorry plight; taking 
away even the sashes of the windows, shelves, and every thing movable. Even 
the paper had been torn from the walls, and carried oif for its blood-stains, 
llontvet described, with the phlegm of his race, the appearance of the house 
on the morning of the tragedy : " Karen lay dere ; Annethe lay here," he said. 
I saw they were preparing to make it habitable again : better burn it, say I. 

We had a sun-dog at evening and a rainbow in the morning, fuU-arclied, 
and rising out of the sea, a sure forerunner, say veteran observers, of foul 
weather. Says the quatrain of the forecastle: 

Rainbow in the morning, 
Sailors take warning ; 
Rainbow at niglit, 
Is the sailor's delight." 




LEDGE OF KOCKS, SMUTTY NOSE. 

I spent a quiet, breezy afternoon in exploring Appledore. The landing 
from the harbor side has to be made in some cleft of the rock, and is not prac- 
ticable when there is a sea running. Passing by the cottage at the shore, I 
first went up the rocky declivity to the site of the abandoned settlement of 
so long ftgo. It may still be recognized by the cellars, rough stone walls, and 
fragments of bricks lying scattered about. Thistles, raspberry-bushes, and 
dwarf cherry-trees in fragrant bloom, were growing in the depressions which 



THE ISLES OF SHOALS. 



187 



marked these broken hearth-stones of a forgotten people. Tlie poisonous 
ivy, sometimes called mercury, so often fount! clinging to old walls, was 
here. Some country- f(jlk pretend its potency is such that they who look 
on it are inoculated with the poison; a scratch, as I know to my cost, will 
suffice. 

Here was a strip of green grass running along the harbor side, and, for the 
first time, the semblance of a road ; I followed it until it lost itself among 
the rocks. A horse and a yoke of oxen were browsing by the way, and on 
a distant shelf of 

rock I saw a cow, ^_ ^^^^^^^g^^-; ^-^g-S^^ 

much exaggera- 
ted ia size, con- 
tentedly rumina- 
tive. Clumps of 
huckleberry and 
fragrant bayber- 
ry were frequent, 
with blackberry 
and other vines 
clustering above 
the surface rocks. 

1 am inclined 
to doubt whether, 
after all, the hab- 
itation of Apple- 
dore' was aban- 
doned on account 
of the Indians, for 
Star Island, as has 
been remarked, 
could give no bet- 
ter security. Prob- 
ably the landing 
had much to do 
with it. With- 
out some moving 

, . , 1 . SOUTH-EAST END OF APPLEDORE, LOOKING SOUTH. 

cause the mhabit- 

ants would hardly have left Appledore and its verdure for the bald crags of 




' Appledore, a small sea-port of England, County of Devon, parish of Northampton, on the 
Torridge, at its mouth in Barnstable Bay, two and a quarter miles north of Bideford. It is resort- 
ed to in summer as a bathing- place, and has a harbor subordinate to the port of Barnstable. — 
" Gazetteer." 



188 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 

Star Island. The choice of Ajjpledore by the first settlers was probably due 
to its spring of pure water, the only one on the islands. 

The year 1628 is the first in which we can locate actual settlers at the 
Shoals. Mr. Jeffrey and Mr. Burslein, then assessed two pounds for the ex- 
penses of Morton's afluir, are supposed to have been living there. By 1640 
the Rev. Mr. Hull, of Agamenticus, paid parochial visits to the Isles, and 
some time before 1661, says Dr. Morse, they had a meeting-house on Hog 
Island, though the service of the Church of England was the first perform- 
ed there. The three brothers Cutt, of Wales, settled there about 1645, re- 
moving soon to the main-land, where they became distinguished. Antipas 
Maverick is mentioned as i-esident in 1647. Another settler whom the 
chronicles do not omit was William Pepperell, of Cornwall, England, father 
of the man of Louisburg, who was here about 1676. The removal of the 
brothers Cutt within two years, and of Pepperell and Gibbons after a brief 
residence, does not confirm the view that the islands at that early day pos- 
sessed attractions to men of the better class sometimes claimed for them. 
Pepperell and Gibbons left the choice of a future residence to chance, with 
an indifference worthy a Bedouin of the Great Desert. Holding their staves 
between thumb and finger until perpendicularly poised, they let them fall, 
departing, the tradition avers, in the direction in which each pointed — Pep- 
perell to Kittery, Gibbons to Muscongus. 

The first woman mentioned who came to reside at Hog Island was Mrs. 
John Reynolds, and she came in defiance of an act of court prohibiting wom- 
en from living on the islands. One of the Cutts, Richard by name, petition- 
ed for her removal, together with the hogs and swine running at large on thfe 
island belonging to John Reynolds. The court, however, permitted her to 
remain during good behavior. This occurred in 1647. It gives a glimpse 




DUCK ISLAND, FROM APPLEDOKE. 



THE ISLES OF SHOALS.. 189 

of what society must hitherto have been on the islands to call for such enact- 
ments. No wonder men of substance left the worse than l^arren rocks, and 
that right speedily. 

I walked around the shores of Appledore, stopping to explore the chasms 
in my way. One of them I could liken to nothing but a coffin, it seemed so 
exactly lashioned to receiv^e the hull of some unlucky ship. On some of the 
rocks I remarked impressions, as if made with tiie heel of a human foot. In 
the offing Duck Island showed its jagged teetli, around which the tide swell- 
ed and broke until it seemed frothing at the mouth. 

Another Smith's monument is on the highest part of the island, all the 
others being within view from it. It is a rude cairn of rough stone, thrown 
together with little effort at regularity. The surface stones are overgrown 
with lichens, which add to its appearance of antiquity. It is known to have 
stood here rather more than a century, and is said to have been built by Cap- 
tain John Smith himself Howsoever the tradition may have originated, it is 
all we have, and are so fain to be content ; but I marvel that so modest a man 
as Captain John should have said nothing about it in the book writ with his 
own hand. By some the monument has been believed to be a beacon built 
to mark the fishing-grounds. 

Smith arrived at Monhegan in April, 1614, and was back again at Plym- 
outli, England, on the Stii of August. He was one of those who came to 
" fish and trade," seeking out the habitations of the Indians for his purpose. 
There were no savages at the Isles.' Of his map Smith writes: "Although 
there be many things to be observed which the haste of other affiiirs did 
cause me to omit, for being sent more to get present commodities than 
knowledge by discoveries for any future good, I had not power to search as 
I would," etc. I should add, in passing, that Smith, who admits having seen 
the relation of Gosnold, does not allow him the credit of the name he gave to 
Martha's Vineyard, but speaks of it as Capawock. 

One of the remarkable features of Appledore is the valley issuing from 
the cove, dividing the island in two. This ravine is a real curiosity, the great 
depression occurring where the hotel buildings are situated affording a snug 
cove on the Avest of the island. Just behind the house enough soil had ac- 
cumulated to furnish a thriving and well-kept vegetable garden, evidently an 
object of solicitude to the proprietors. From the veranda of the hotel you 
may see the ocean on the east and the bay on the west. In Mr, Hawthorne's 
account of his visit here in 1852, he relates that in the same storm that 
overthrew Minot's Light, a great wave passed entirely through this valley; 
"and," he continues, "Laighton describes it when it came in from the sea 
as toppling over to the height of the cupola of his hotel. It roared and 
whitened through, from sea to sea, twenty feet abreast, rolling along hug.e 

' Levett says, " Upon these islands are no salvages at all." 



190 



THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 



r »cks ill its passage. It passed beneath 
iiis veranda, which stands on posts, and 
probably filled the valley completely. 
Would I had been here to see !" 

When I came back to the harbor 
side, both wind and tide had risen. I 
was ferried across by a lad of not more 
than ten years. At times the swift 
current got the better and swept the 
boat to leeward, but he stoutly refn'sed 
to give me the oars, the pride of an 
islander being involved in the matter. 
The little fellow flung his woolen cap 
to the bottom of the dory, his hair fly- 
ing loosely in the wind as he bent to 
his task. After taking in more water 
than Avas for our comfort, he was at 
last obliged to accept my aid. These 
islanders are amphibious, brought up 
Avith " one foot on sea, one foot on 
shore." I doubt if half their lives are 
passed on terra firma. 

Dnck Island is for the sportsman. 
He will find there in proper season the 
canvas-back, mallard, teal, white-wing- 
ed coot, sheldrake, etc. Few land, ex- 
cept gunners in pursuit of sea-fowl. I 
contented myself with sailing along its 
shores, watching the play of the surf and the gambols of a colony of small 
sea-gulls that seemed in peaceable possession. Duck Island proper has a 
cluster of Avicked-looking ledges encircling it from south-west to south-east. 
The mariner should give it a wide berth. Its ill-shapen i-ocks project on all 
sides, and a reef makes out half a mile into the sea from the north-west. 
Shag and Mingo are two of its satellites. This island was resorted to by the 
Indians for the seals frequenting it. 

I had observed lying above the landing on Star Island a queer-looking 
craft, which might with great propriety be called a shell. It consisted of a 
frame of slats neatly fitted together, over which a covering of tarred canvas 
had been stretched. I at first thought some Kanaka's canoe had found its 
Avay through the North-M^est Passage, and drifted in here; but Mr. Poor as- 
sured me it belonged on the islands, and was owned and sailed by Tom Leha, 
whose dwelling on Londoner's he pointed out. As Tom Leha was the Celtic 
skipper of the Creed^ I had some speech of him. His boat, he said, was 




LAIGUTON S GKAVE. 



THE ISLES OF SHOALS. 



191 



such as is used in the Shannon, where it is called the " saint's canoe," be- 
cause first used by one of the Irish saints. It was a good surf-boat, light as 
a cork, and as buoyant. 

One night Leha, with liis wife and three children, arrived at the Shoals in 
his canoe, which a strong man might easily carry. No one knew whence 
tliey came. Their speech was unintelligible. There tliey were, and there 
they seemed inclined to remain. Your bona fide Shoaler likes not intruders. 
The islanders gave Leha and his a cold welcome, but this did not discompose 
him. He was faithful and industrious, and in time saved money enough to 
buy Londoner's. He waved his hand toward his island home, as if to say, 

"An ill-favored thing, sir, but mine own." 

As seen from Star Island, Londoner's shows two rugged knobs connected 
by a narrower strip of shingle. It has its cove, and a reasonably good land- 




londoner's, fkom star island 

ing. Half-way between it and Star are hidden rocks over which the sea 
breaks. It was not occupied by its owner when I was there. 

It was a lovely morning when I rowed over to White Island. Once clear 
of the harbor, I found outside Avhat sailors call " an old sea," the relics of 
the late north-easter. But these wherries will live in anj'' sea that runs on 
the New England coast. I have heard of the Bank fishermen being out in 
them for days together when their vessel could not lie at anchor in the tre- 
mendous swell. 

White Island is now the most picturesque of the group, a distinction once 
conceded to Star. It owes this preference to its light-house, standing on a 
cliff at the east head of the isle, that rises full fifty feet out of water; at least 
it seemed so hio;h to me as I lay underneath it in my little boat at low tide. 
Against this cliff the waves continually swelled, rushing into crannies, where 



192 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 

I could hear them gurgling and soughing as if some monster were choking to 
death in their depths. 

This is not so forbidding as Boon Island, but it is enough. The light- 
house was of brick, as I could see where the weather had worn off last year's 
coat of whitewash. It was not yet time for the tender to come and bi'ighten 
it up again. The long gallery conducting from the keeper's cottage up to 
the tower was once torn away from its fastenings, and hurled into the deep 
gorge of the rocks which it spans. I saw nothing to hinder if the Atlantic 
had a mind again to play at bowls with it. 

The island owes its name to the blanched appearance of its crags, little 
different in this respect from its fellows. At high tides the westward end is 
isolated from the rest, making two islands of it in appearance, but inseparable 
as the Siamese twins. The light-house is much visited in summer, especially 
by those of a romantic turn, and by those to whom its winding stairs, huge 
tanks of oil, and powerful Fresnel, possess the charm of novelty. By its side 
is the section of an earlier building, a reminiscence of the former state of the 
Isles. For many years the keeper of the light was Thomas B. Laighton, ai- 
terward proprietor of Appledore. On account of some political disappoint- 
ment, he removed from Portsmouth to the Isles, making, it is said, a vow 
never again to set foot on tlie main-land. Fortune followed the would-be 
recluse against his will. As keeper of a boarding-house on Appledore, he is 
reported to have expressed little pleasure at the coming of visitors, even while 
receiving them with due hospitality. He was glad of congenial spirits, but 
loved not overmuch the stranger within his gates. His sons succeeded to 
their father at the Appledore. His daughter' has told with charming naivete 
the story of the light-house, whose lamps she often trimmed and lighted with 
her own hands. 

"I lit the lamps in the light-house tower, 

For the sun dropped down and the day was dead; 
They shone lilce a glorious chisteied flower, 
Two golden and five red." 

In 1793 there were only eight light-houses within the jurisdiction of Mas- 
sachusetts. Of these one was at the entrance of Nantucket, and another 
of Boston harbor. There were twin lights on the north point of Plymouth 
harbor, on Thatcher's Island, off Cape Ann, and at the northerly end of Plum 
Island, at the mouth of the Merrimac. The latter were not erected until 1787. 
They were of wood, so contrived as to be removed at pleasure, in order to 
conform to the shifting of the sand-bar on which they stood. Tlie lights on 
Baker's Island, at the entrance of the port of Salem, were not built until 1798. 

But neither compass, sextant, fixed and revolving lights, storm signals, 
careful soundings, buoys, nor beacons, with all the improvements in modern 



' Mrs. Celia Laighton Thaxter. 



THE ISLES OF SHOALS. 



193 




COVERED WAY AND LIGUT-HOUSE, WUITE ISLAND. 

ship-builcling, have yet reduced traveling over the sea to the same certainty 
as traveling over the land. We commit ourselves to the mercy of Father 
Neptune just as fearfully as ever, and annually pay a costly tribute of lives for 
the privilege of traversing his dominions. 

During the winter of 18 — , so runs the story, the keeper of this light was 
a young islander, with a single assistant. For nearly a week north-easterly 
winds had prevailed, bringing in from the sea a cold, impenetrable haze, that 
enveloped the islands, and rendered it impossible to discern objects within a 
cable's length of the light-house. At the turn of the tide on the sixth day, 
the expected storm burst upon them with inconceivable fury. The sea grew 
blacker beneath the dead white of the falling snow. The waves, urged on 
by the gale, made a fair breach over the light-house rock, driving the keeper 
from his little dwelling to the tower for shelter. 

The violence of the gale increased until midnight, when it began to lull. 

13 



194 



THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 



The spirits of the oppressed watcliers rose as the storm abated. One made 
ready a smoking platter of fisli and potatoes, while the other prepared to 
snatch a few moments' sleep. While thus occupied, a loud knock was heard 
at the door. It was repeated. The two men stood rooted to the spot. They 
knew no living thing except themselves was on the island ; they knew noth- 
ing of mortal shape might approach it in such a fearful tempest. At a third 
knock the assistant, who was preparing their frugal meal, fell upon his knees, 
making the sign of the cross, and calling upon all the saints in the calendar 
for protection, like the good Catholic he was. 

The keeper, who had time to recollect himself, advanced to the door and 
threw it open. On the outside stood a gigantic negro, of muscular frame, 
clothed in a few rags, the blood streaming from twenty gashes in his body 
and limbs. A brig had been cast away on the rocks a few rods distant from 
the light, and the intrepid black had ventured to attempt to gain the light- 
house. 

The keeper ran to the spot. Peering into the darkness, he could discover 
the position of the vessel only by the flapping of her torn sails in the wind. 
The roar of the sea drowned every other sound. If the shi]jwrecked crew 
had cried for help, they could not have been heard. Availing himself of his 
knowledge of every inch of the sliore, the keeper succeeded in gaining a pro- 
jecting ledge, from which he attracted the attention of those on board the 
brig, and after many fruitless efforts a line was got to land. The wreck, as 
the keeper could now see, was driven in a little under the shelter of a project- 
ing point. Moments were precious. He sought in vain for some projection 
on which he might fasten his rope. He did not hesitate, but wound it about 
his body, and fixed himself as firmly as he could in a crevice of the rock. 
Here, with his feet planted on the slippery ledge, where every sea that came 
in drenched him to the skin, the brave fellow stood fast until every man of 
the crew had been saved. 




WUITi; ISLAM) LKiUT. 



THE ISLES OF SHOALS. 



193 



There is notliing tliat moves the imagination like a light-house. John 
Quincy Adams said when he saw one in the evening he was reminded of the 
lic-ht Columbus saw the night he discovered the New World. I have been 
moved to call them telegrajth posts, standing along the coast, each flashing 
its spark from cape to headland, the almost commingling rays being golden 
threads of happy intelligence to all mariners. What a glorious vision it 
would be to see the kindling of each tower from Florida to Prima Vista, as 
the broad streets of the city are lighted, lamp by lamp! 

Here ended my wanderings among these islands, seated like immortals in 
the midst of eternity. The strong south-westerly current bore me swiftly 
from the light-house rock. We hoisted sail, and laid the prow of our little 
bark for the river's mouth ; but I leaned over the taffrail and looked back at 
the beacon-tower 'til it faded and was lost. 

"Even at tliis distance I can see the titles, 
Upheaving, breaiv imheard iilong its base; 
A speechless wrath that rises and subsides 
In tlie wiiite Hp and tremor of tiie face. 

"'Sail on!' it says, 'Sail on, ye stately ships! 

And with your floating bridge the ocean span ; 
Be mine to guard this light from all eclipse. 
Be yours to bring man nearer unto man.'" 





WENTWORTH HOUSE, LITTLE HARBOR. 



CHAPTER XIII. 



NEWCxVSTLE AND NEIGHBORHOOD. 

"Yes — from the sepulchre we'll gather flowers, 
Then feast like spirits in their promised bowers, 
Then plunge and revel in the rolling surf, 
Then lay our limbs along the tender turf." — Bvron. 

Ai^TOTHER dolig-htfuUy niinons old corner is Newcastle, which occni)ies 
the island opposite Kittery Point, usually called Great Island. Be- 
tween Newcastle and Kittery is the main ship-channel, with deep water and 
plenty of sea-room. On the south of Great Island is another entrance called 
Little Harbor, Avith shallow water and sandy bottom; its communication with 
the main river is now valueless, and little used except by fishing-craft of small 
tonnage. 

In going from Portsmouth there ai'e three bridges to be crossed to reach 
the town of Newcastle, situated on the northern shore of the island ; oi', if 
your aim be the southern shore, it is equally a pleasant drive or walk to the 
ancient seat of the Wentworths, at Little Harbor, from which you may, if a 
ferry-man be not at hand, hail the fii'st passing boat to take yon to the isl- 
and. I went there by the former route, so as to pass an hour among the 
tombstones in the old Point of Graves burial-ground, and returned by the 
latter in order to visit the Wentworth mansion. 

The three bridges before mentioned connect as many islands with Ports- 
mouth. They were built, it is said, at the suggestion of President Monroe, 
when he found Great Island somewhat difficult of access. 



NEWCASTLE AND NEIGHBORHOOD. 



19^ 



-"■•y^^^r 



There appeared some symptoms of activity in the island fisliery. As I 
passed down, I noticed two Banl^ers lying in the diminutive liarbor, and an 
acre or so of ground _ __ 

spread with flakes, 
on which codtish 
were being cured. 

The little cove 
wliich makes the 
harbor of Newcastle 
has several wharves, 
some of them in 
ruins, and all left 
"high and dry" at 
low tide. The rot- 
ting timbers, stick- 
ing in crevices of 
the rocks, hung with 
sea- weed and stud- 
ded with barnacles, 
told very plainly 
that the trade of the 
island was number- 
ed among tlie things - '^ >^\^^ 
of the past. point of graves. 

Between the upper end of Great Island and the town of Portsmouth is a 
broad, deep, still basin, called in former times, and yet, as I suspect, by some 
of the oldsters, the Pool. This was the anchorage of the mast ships, which 
made annual voyages between England and the Piscataqua, convoyed in war- 
time by a vessel of force. The arrival, lading, and departure of the mast 
ships were the three events of the year in this old sea-place. Sometimes as 
many as seven were loading here at once, even as early as 1665. In the Pool, 
the Astrea, a twenty-gun ship, was destroyed by fire one cold morning in 
January, 1744. 

The Earl of Bellomont, an Irish peer, writes to the Lords of Trade, in 
1699, of the Piscataqua: "It is a most noble harbour," says his lordship; 
"the biggest ships the king hath can lie against the bank at Portsmouth." 
He then advises the building of war vessels there for the king's service; and 
mentions that Charles II. had complimented the French king with the 
draughts of the best ships in the British navy, and had thereby "given vent 
to that precious secret." 

In the day when all of old Portsmouth was crowded between Avhat is 
now Pleasant Street and the river, it is easy to imagine the water-side streets 
and alleys frequented by sailors in pigtails and petticoats; the mighty ca- 




198 



THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 



rousals and roaring choruses; the dingy, well-smoked dram-shops; the stews 
and slums of back streets, and the jolly larks and aftVays with tlie night-watch, 
liear-admiral " the brave Benbow, sirs," has landed at these old quays from his 
barge, followed as closely as a rolling gait would permit by some old sea-dog 
of a valet, with cutlass stuck in a broad, leathern belt, exactly at the middle 
of his back. The admiral was doubtless on his way to some convivial ren- 
counter, where the punch was sti'ong, and where the night not infrequently 
terminated little to the advantage of the quarter-deck over the forecastle. 

The ships of that day were wonderfully made. Their bows crouched low 
in the water, their curiously carved and ornamented sterns rose high above 
it. The bowsprit was crossed by a heavy spar, on Avhich a square-sail was 
hoisted. Chain cables had not been invented, and hempen ones, as thick as 
the mainmast, held the ship at her anchors. Colored battle lanterns were 
fixed above the taffrail ; watches and broadsides were regulated by the hour- 
glass. The sterns and bulging quarter-galleries of Spanish, French, and Por- 
tuguese war shi[)S were so incrusted with gilding it seemed a pity to batter 
them with shot. Think of Nelson knocking the Holy Trlidtij into a cocked 
liat, or the Twelve A2)ostles into the middle of next week ! 

Thei-e are many old houses on Great Island. Tlie quaintness of one that 

stands within twen- 
Sj ty yards of the river 
is always remarked 
in sailing by. I could 
m not learn its age, but 
=1 hazard the conjec- 
ture it was there be- 
fore James II. abdi- 
cated. 

The visitor, as in 
duty bound, should 
i go to the chamber 
S| of the selectmen, 
where the town char- 
ter given by William 
and Mary, in 1693, 
is dis]»layed on the 
wall,en2;i'ossed in al- 

OLD HOUSE, GREAT ISLAND. ^^^^^^ Unintelligible 

black-letter.* The records of Newcastle have had a curious history. After 
a disa|)pearance of nearly fifty years, they were recovered within a year or 




' The Act of Corporation, though well preserved, appeared little valued; it hung by a corner 
and in a light that was every day dimming the ink with which it had been engrossed. 



NEWCASTLE AND NEIGHBORHOOD. 190 

two in England. Tlie first volume is bound in vellum, and, though somewhat 
dog-eared, is perfect. The entries are in a fair round-hand, beginning in 1693, 
when Lieutenant-governor Usher signed the grant for the township of New- 
castle. 

Among tlie earliest records, I noticed one of five shillings paid for a pair of 
stocks; and of a gallery put up, in 1694, in the meeting-house, for the women 
to sit in. Any townsman entertaining a stranger above fourteen days, with- 
out acquainting the selectmen, was to be fined. What would now be thought 
of domiciliary visits like the following? "One liouseholder or more to walk 
every day in sermon-time with the constable to every publick-house in y^ 
town, to suppress ill orders, and, if they think convenient, to private houses 
also." 

I found the town quiet enough, but the youngsters noisy and ill-bred. 
There seemed also to be an unusual number of loiterers about the village 
stores ; I sometimes passed a row of them, squatted, like greyhounds, on their 
lieels, in the sun. Those I noticed whittled, tossed coppers, or laughed and 
talked loudly. Many of the men were employed at Kittei-y Navy Yard. 

From observation and inquiry I am well assured our Government dock- 
yards are, as a rule, of little benefit to the neighboring population. The Gov- 
ernment pays a higher price for less labor than private persons find it for 
their interest to do. The work is intermittent; and it happens quite too 
frequently that the dock-yard employe is always expecting to be taken on, 
and will not go to work outside of the 
yard ; he is especially unwilling at j" 
wages less than the Government ordi- ^ 
narily p<iys, upon which labor in the ^ 
vicinity of the yard is usually gauged. ^ 

A charmino- ramble of an afternoon = 
is to Fort Constitution, built on a pro- 
truding point of rocks washed by the 
tide. When I saw it the old fortress 
was casting its shell, lobster- like, for 

a stronger. The odd old foot-paths ", -r,:^ ■^■-..-^k ^_^ '^^- 

among the ledges zigzag now to the -— ^^^—^ 

. , 1 /. " , " 1 -1 OLD TOWER, NEWCASTLE. 

rigiit or left, as tliey are thrust aside ' 

by intruding ledges. Much history is contained within the four walls of the 

work.' Adjoining is a light-house, oi'iginally erected in 1771. 

' Tlie reader will do well to consult Belknap's admirable "History of New Hampshire," vol. ii. ; 
Adams's "Annals," or Brewster's "Ramhles about Portsmouth. " Some sort of defense was be- 
gun here very early. In lG6n the commissioners of Charles II. attempted to fortify, but were met 
by a prohibition from Massachusetts. In 1700 there exi.sted on Great Island a fort mounting 
thirty guns, pronounced by Earl Bellomont incapable of defending the river. Colonel Romer made 
the plan of a new work, and recommended a strong tower on the point of Fryer's (Gerrish's) Island, 




200 



THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 



While engaged in sketcliing the gate -way and portcullis of old Fort 
Constitution, I was accosted by a person, with a strong German accent, who 
repeated, Avord for word, as I should judge, a mandate of the War Office 
against the taking of any of its old ruins by wandering artists. He then 
walked away, leaving me to finish my sketch without further interruption. 
On a rocky eminence overlooking the fortress is a martello tower, built 

during the war of 1812, to guaran.tee 
the main work asjainst a landinsf on 
the beach at the south side. It has 
three embrasures, and was begun on 
a Sunday, while two English frigates 
were lying olf the Isles of Shoals. 
Sally-port and casemates are choked 
with debris, the parapet grass-grown, 
and the whole in picturesque ruin. 
Man}'' of these towers were erected 
on the south coast of P^ngland during 
the Napoleonic wars to repel the ex- 

GATEWAY, OLD FORT CONSTITUTION. pectcd iuvasioH. 

Another pleasant walk is to Little Harbor, taking by the way a look at 
the old house near JaftVey's Point, that is verging on two hundred years, yet 
seems staunch arid strong. Tlie owner believes it to be the same in which 
Govei'nor Cranlield' held colonial courts. This was one of the attractive 
sites of the island, until Govei'nment began the construction of formidable 
earth-works at a short distance from the farmstead. The Isles of Shoals are 
plainly distinguished, and with a field-glass the little church on Star Island 
may be made out in clear weather. I enjoyed a walk on tlie rampart at 
evening, when the lights on Whale's Back, Boon Island, White Island, and 
Squam were seen flashing their take-heed through the darkness. 

Little Harbor, where there is a summer hotel, was the site of the first set- 
tlement on the island. At Odiorne's Point, on the opposite shore, was conx- 
menced, in 1623, the settlement of New Hampshire, It is now proposed to 
commemorate the event itself, and the spot on Avhich the first house was 
built, by a monument.* 




with batteries on Wood and Clark's islands. In December, 1774, John Lanpdon and John Sul- 
livan committed open rebellion by leading a party to seize the powder here. The fort was then 
called William and Mary. Old Fort Constitution has the date of 1808 on the key-stone of the 
arch of the gate-way. Its walls were carried to a certain height with rough stone topped with 
brick. It was a parallelogram, and monnted barbette guns only. The present work is of gran- 
ite, inclosing the old walls. The new earth-works on JafFrey's Point and Gerrisii's Island render 
it of little importance. 

' Governor of New Hampshire from 1082 to 1685. The house is the residence of Mr. Albef^. 

* Odiorne's Point is in Rye, New Hampshire. The settlement began under the auspices of a 



NEWCASTLE AND NEIGHBORHOOD. 



201 



Captain Joliii Mason is known as the founder of New Hampshire. His 
biography is interwoven with tlie times of the giant Richelieu and the pigmy 
Buckingham. He was treasurer and pay-master of the king's armies during 
the war with Spain. He was governor of Portsmouth Castle when Felton 
struck his knife into the duke's left side; it is said, in Mason's own house. 
Tlie name of Portsmouth in New Hampshire was given by him to this out- 
growth of Portsmouth in old Hampshii'e. At a time when all England was 
fermenting, it seems passing strange Goi'ges and Mason should have persisted 
in their scheme to gain a lodgment in New England. 

In Sir Walter Scott's " Ivanhoe " the following passage occurs: "The an- 
cient forest of Sherwood lay between SiiefReld and Doncaster. The remains 
of this extensive wood are still to be seen at the noble seat of Wentworth, 
* * * Here hunt- 
ed of yore the fab- 
ulous Dragon of 
Wantley,and here 
Avere fought many 
of the most des- 
perate battles dur- 
ing the Civil Wars 
of the Hoses; and 
here also flt>ur- 
ished in ancient 
times those bands 
of gallant outlaws 
whose deeds have 
been rendered so 
popular in English 
story." 

Reginald Went- 
worth, lord of the 
manor of Went- 
worth, in Berks, 
A.D. 106G, is con- 
sidered the com- 
mon ancestor of the Wentworths of England and America. The unfortunate 
Earl of Strafford was a Wentworth. On the dissolution of the monasteries, 




Ih 1 11 II I 1 111 iLAlntiUli Lliliiili'l "1 _i' I (iMjii_ 

fclK THOMAS AVENTWOKTH, WENTWOKTH HOLSE, LITTLE H VRBOK 



company, in which Gorges and Mason were leading spirits. Their grant covered the territory be- 
tween the Menimac and Sagiidahoc rivers. Under its authority, David Thompson and others set- 
tled at Little Harbor, and built what was subsequently known as Mason's Hall. Disliking his situ- 
ation, Thompson removed the next spring to the island now bearing his name in Boston Bay. 
From this nucleus sprung the settlements at Great Island and Portsmouth. The settlement at 
Hilton's Point was nearly coincident. 



202 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 

Newstead Abbey was conferred on Sir John Byron by Henry YIII, Its site 
was in tlie midst of the fertile and interesting region once known as Sherwood 
Foi'est, Here was passed the early youth of the brilliant and gifted George, 
Lord Byron, and in tlie little church of Newstead his remains were laid. The 
name and title of Baroness Went worth were in 1856 assumed by Lady Byron, 
whose grandfather was Sir Edward Noel, Lord Wentworth. 

Another of the distinguished of this illustrious family was tlie Marquis of 

Rockingham, who voted for the re- 
peal of t]>e Stamp Act, and acted 
with Chatham against Lord North.' 
It was at him, while minister, tlie 
pasquinade was leveled, 

"You had better declare, which yon may 
without siiocliing 'em, 
The nation's asleep and the minister Kock- 
iiig'eni." 

The seat of the Wentworths at 
Little Harbor is at the mouth of 
Sagamore Ci'eek, not more than two 
miles from town. Among a gioup 
of aged houses in the older quar- 
ter of Portsmouth, that of Saiunel 
Wentworth is still jjointed out.^ 
His monument may also be seen in 
the ancient burial-place of Point of Graves. The family seem to have been 
statesmen by iniiei'itance. There were three chief-magistrates of New Hamp- 
shire of the name, viz. : Jolm, the son of Samuel; Benning, the son of John ; 
and John, the ne]ihew of Benning. 

The exterior of the mansion does not of itself keep touch and time with 
the preconceived idea of colonial magnificence. Its architectural defoi-mity 
Avould have put Ruskin beside himself. A rambling collection of buildings, 
seemingly the outgrowth of different periods and conditions, are incorpoia- 
ted into an inharmonious Avhole. The result is an oddity in wood. Doubt- 
less the builder was content with it. If so, I have little disposition to be 
criticaL 

' Peace with the tliirteen colonies was proposed under the administration of Kockingham, 
about the last official act of his life. His name is often met with in Portsmouth. 

^ The house stands at the north end of Manning, formerly Wentwortii Street, and is thought 
from its size to have been a public- house. Tlie same house was also occupied by Lieutenant- 
Governor John, son of Samuel Wentworth. Samuel was the son of\Yillinm, the first settler of 
the name. He had been an innkeeper, and had swung his sign of the " Dolphin " on Great Island. 
Hon. John Wentworth, of Chicago, is the biographer of his family. 




MARQUIS OF ROCKINGHAM. 



NEWCASTLE AND NEIGHBORHOOD. 



203 



Beyond tliis, the visitor may not refuse his unqualified approval of the 
site, which is charming, of the surroundings — tlie mansion was embowered in 
hlooniing lilacs when 
I saw it — and of the 
iieneral air of snug- 
ness and of comfort, 
rather than elegance, 
wliich seems the 
proper atmosphere 
of the Wentworth 
House. 

Built in 1750, it 
commands a view up 
and down Little Har- 
bor, though conceal- 
ed by an eminence 
from the road. I 
had a brief glimpse 
of it while going on 
Great Island via the 
bridges. It is said it 
originally contained 
as many as fifty-two 
rooms, though by the 
removal of a good- 
sized tenement to the 
opposite island the 
number has been di- 
minished to forty- 
five. There is, there- 
fore, plenty of elbow- 
room. The cellar was 
sometimes used as a 
stable: it was laige 
enough to have ac- 
commodated a troop, 
or, at a pinch, a squad- 
ron. 

Prepared for an 

. ^ . ,.,,, ^ IN THE WENTWOKTH HOUSE, LITTLE HAKBOK. 

interior as little at- 
tractive as the outside, the conjecture of the visitor is again at fault, for this 
queer old bundle of joiners' patchwork contains apartments which indicate 
that the old beau, Benning Wentworth, cared less for the rind than the fruit. 




204 



THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 



"Within unwonted splendors met the eye, 
Panels and floors of oak and tapestry ; 
Carved chimney-pieces where on brazen dogs 
Reveled and roared the Christmas fires of logs ; 
Doors opening into darkness unawares, 
Mysterious passages and flights of stairs ; 
And on the walls in heavy gilded frames, 
Tiie ancestral Went worths with old Scripture names." 

The council chamber contains a gem of a mantel, enriched with elaborate 
carving of busts of Indian princesses, chaplets, and garlands — a year's labor, 
it is said, of the workman. The wainscot is waist-high, and heavy beams 
divide the ceiling. As we entered we noticed the rack in which the muskets 
of the Governor's guard were deposited. 

But what catches the eye of the visitor soonest and retains it longest, 
is the portraits on the walls. First is a canvas representing the Earl of 

Strafford' dictating to 
his secretary, in tlie 
Tower, on the day be- 
fore his execution. At 
his trial, says an eye- 
witness, "he was always 
in the same suit of black, 
as in doole" (mourn- 
ing). When the lieu- 
tenant of the Tower of- 
fered him a coach, lest 
he should be torn in 
pieces by the mob 
in going to execution, 
he replied, "I die to 
please the people, and I 
will die in their own 
way." 

Here is a portrait 
from the brush of Cop- 
ley, who reveled in rich 
LAUY uAN'cocK ^ puuiivvii (h\ ( ui LLi ) IN iiiL wLMwuuiH draperics aud in the 
HOUSE. accessories of his por- 

traits quite as much as in painting rounded nrms, beautiful hands, and shapely 
figures. This one in pink satin, with over-dress of white lace, short sleeves 




' His second wife was Henrietta du Roy, daughter of Frederick Charles du Roy, generalissimo 
to the King of Denmark. 



NEWCASTLE AND NEIGHBORHOOD. 205 

with deep ruffles, and coquettish laco cap, is Dorotl)y Quiiicy, the greatest 
belle and breaker of hearts ot" her day. It was not, it is said, her fault that 
she became Mis. Governor Hancock, instead of Mrs. Aaron Burr. "When in 
later years, as Madam Scott, she retained all the vivacity of eighteen, she was 
fond of relating how the hand now seen touching i-ather than supporting her 
clieek, had been kissed by marquises, dukes, and counts, who had ex])erienced 
ihe hospitality of the Hancock mansion; and how D'Estaing, put to bed after 
too much wine, liad torn her best damask coverlet with the spurs he had for- 
gotten to remove. 

Other portraits are — Of Queen Christina of Sweden, who looks down with 
the same pitiless eyes that exulted in the murder of her equerry, Monaldeschi ; 
one said to be Secretary Waldron, a right noble countenance and martial 
tigure; and of Mr. and Mrs. Jacob Sheaffe. 

I could be loquacious on the subject of these portraits, the fading impres- 
sions of histories varied or startling, of experiences more curious than protita- 
])\e to narrate. In their presence we take a step backward into the past, that 
})ast whose lessons we will not heed. Hawthoinie, standing before a wall cov- 
e-red with such old counterfeits, was moved to say : " Nothing givt-s a strong- 
er idea of old worm-eaten aristocracy, of a family being crazy with age, and 
e)f its being time that it was extinct, than these black, dusty, faded, antique- 
dressed portraits." 

The old furniture standing about was richly carved, and covered M'ith 
faded green damask. In the billiard-room was an ancient spinet, quite as 
much out of tune as out of date. Doubtless, the flashing of white liands 
across those same yellow keys lias often struck an answering chord in the 
breasts of colonial youth. Here are more portraits; and a buffet, a side- 
board, and a sedan-chair. Punch has flowed, and laughter echoed lieie. 

The reader knows the pretty story, so gracefully told by Mr. Louirfellow^ 
of Martha Hilton, who became the second wife of Governor Benniug,' and 
thus Lady Wentworth of the Hall. 

We can see her as she goes along the street, swinging the pail, a trifle 
heavy for her, and splashing with the water her naked feet. We hear her 
ringing laughter, and the saucy answer to Mistress Stavers in her furbelows, 
as that buxom landlady flings at her, in passing, the sharp reproof: 

"O Martha Hilton! Fie! how dare you go 
About the town half-dressed and looking so ?" 

The poet's tale is at once a history and a picture, full of pretty conceits 
and picturesque situations. Fancy the battered ettigy of the Earl of Halifax 
on the innkeeper's sign falling at the feet of Mrs. Stavers to declare his pas- 
sion. 

* Bennington, Vermont, is named from Governor Wentworth. 



20Q 



THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 



But Benning Went- 
worth, governor though 
he was, was none too 
good for Martha Hil- ^_^ 
ton.' It was tlie pride |W; 
of the Hiltons made 
lier say, " I yet shall 
ride in my own chari- 
ot." The widowed gov- 
ernor was gouty, pas- 
sionate, and had im- 
bibed with his long 
residence in S|)ain the 
hauteur of the Span- 
iard. He left office in 
1766 in disgrace. 

The last of the co- 
lonial Wentworths was 
Sir John, in whose fa- B 
vor his uncle had been K 
allowed to screen him- ^ 
self by a resignation. ^ 
There are some odd co- ^; 
incidences in the fami- ^B 
ly records of both un- 
cle and nephew. The 
former's widow, made 
a second marriage to a goveknok benning wentwokth. 

Wentworth ; the latter married his widowed cousin, Frances Wentworth.^ 

The mansion of Sir John may be seen in Pleasant Street, Portsmouth. 
He was the last royal governor of New Plampshire. John Adams mentions 




' Hei" grandfather, Hon. Richard Hilton, of Newmarket, was grandson of Edward, the original 
settler of Dover, New Hampshire, and had been a justice of the Superior Court of the Province. — 
John Wentworth. 

" Frances Deering Wentworth married John just two weeks after the decease of her first hus- 
band, Theodore Atkinson, also her cousin, and in the same church from which he had been buried 
- — matter for such condolence and reproof as Talleyrand's celebrated "Ah, madanie,"and "Oh, 
madame." Benning Wentworth's widow married Colonel Michael Wentworth, said to have been 
a retired British officer. He was a great horseman and a free liver. Once he rode from Boston 
to Portsmouth between sunrise and sunset. Having run tiirough a handsome estate, he died un- 
der suspicion of suicide, leaving his own epitaph, "I have eaten my cake." Colonel Michael "as 
the host, nt the Hall, of Washington. In 1817, the house at Little Harbor was purchased by 
Cliarles Gushing, whose widow was a daughter of Jacob Sheaft'e. 



KEWCASTLE AND NEIGHBORHOOD. 



207 



tliat .13 lie was leaving- his box at the theatre one night in Paiis, a gentleman 
seized hitn by the hand: "'Governor Wentworth, sir,' said the gentleman. 
At tirst I was embanassed, and knew not how to behave toward him. As 
my classmate and friend at college, and ever since, I conld have [iressed him 
to my bosom with most coi'dial affection. But we now belonged to two dif- 
ferent nations, at war with each other, and consequently were enemies." 

The king afterward gave Sir John the government of Nova Scotia. The 
poet Moore mentions the baronet's kind treatment of him in 1805, during his 
American tour. lie is said to have kept sixteen horses in his stable at 
Portsmouth, and to have been a free-liver. A man of unquestioned ability 
to govern, who went down under the great revolutionary wave of 1775, but 
rose again to the surface and struck bohlly out. 

There is now in the possession of James Lenox, of Xew York, a portrait 
of the baronet's wife, by Copley, painted in his best numner. The lady was 
a celebrated beauty. The face has caught an expression, indescribably arch, 
as if its owner repressed an invincible desire to torment the artist. In it are 
set a pair of eyes, black and 
dangerous, with liigh-arched 
brows, a templing yet mock- 
ing mouth, and nose a little 
retrousse. Her natural hair 
is decorated with ])earls ; a 
string of them encircles her 
throat. The corsage is very 
low,displaying a pairof white 
shoulders such as the poet im- 
airined : 




" She has a bosom as white as snow, 
Take care ! 
She knows how much it is best to 
sliow, 

Beware I beware!" 

In 1777 Baron Steuben 
arrived in Portsmouth, in 
\\\e FlamcDul. Franklin had 
snubbed him, St. Germain 
urged him, but Beaumarchais 
offered him a thousand louis-d'or.' On the day the baron joined the army at 
Valley Forge his name was the watch-word in all the camps. 

^ "Paul Jones shall equip his Bonne Homme Richard; weapons, military stoves can be smug- 
gled over (if the English do not seize them); wherein, once more Beaumarchais, dimly as the Giant 
Smuggler, becomes visible— filling his own lank pocket witiial." — Caklvle, "French Revolu- 
tion," vol. i., p. 43. 




WITCH HILL, SALEM. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

SALEM VILLAGE, AND '92. 

Banquo. "Were such tilings here as we do speak about? 
Or have we eaten of the insane root, 
That takes tlie reason prisoner?" — Macbeth. 

OALEM VILLAGE has a sorrowful celebrity. It would seem as if an ad- 
^ verse spell still hung over it, for in the changes brought by time to its 
neighbors it has no jiart, remaining, as it is likely to remain, Salem Village — 
that is to say, distinctively antiquated, sombre, and lifeless. 

A collection of houses scattered along the old high-road from Salem to 
Andover, decent-looking, brown-roofed, though humble dwellings, a somewhat 
pretending village church, and pleasant, liome-like, parsonage; old trees, part- 
ly verdant, partly withered, stretching naked boughs above the gables of 
houses even older than themselves, embody something of the im])ressions of 
oft-repeated walks in wliat is known as the "Witch Neighborhood." 

The village contains one central point of paramount interest. It is an in- 
closed space of grass ground, a short distance from the principal and only 
street, reached by a well-trodden by-path. Within this now naked field once 
stood a house, with a garden and orchard suri-omiding. Of the house nothing 
remains except a slight depression in the soil ; of the orchard and garden 
there is no trace ; yet hard by I chanced on a bank of aromatic thyme once 
held of singular potency in witchcraft — as in the "Faerie Queen," the tree 
laments to the knight : 

"I chanced to see her in her proper hue, 
Bathing herself iu origan and ihviiie." 



SALEM VILLAGE, AND '92. 209 

In this quiet, out-of-the-way little nook, Salem witchcraft had its begin- 
ning. The sunken cavity is what remains of the Ministry House, so called, 
pulled down in 1785 (not a day too soon); the den of error in which the 
plague-spot first appeared. No one would have thought, standing here, that 
he surveyed the focus of malevolence so deadly as the wretched deliiium 
of '92. 

The well-informed reader is everywhere familiar with the origin and de- 
velopment of Saleni witchcraft,' It has employed the best pens as it has puz- 
zled the best brains among us ; until to-day the whole attair remains envel- 
oped in a mystery which the theories of nearly two hundred years have failed 
wholly to penetrate. 

The writer has had frequent occasion to know how wide-spread is the be- 
lief that witchcraft began in New England, and particularly in Salem. This 
is to be classed among popular errors upon which repeated denials have lit- 
tle efiect. Nevertheless, witchcraft -did not originate in New England ; no, 
nor in old England either, for that matter. The belief in it was earlier than 
the Mayflower, older than the Norman Conquest, and antedated the Roman 
Empire. The first written account of it is contained in Scripture.^ 

Saul incurred the anger of God by consulting the Witch of Endor. Joan 
of Arc was burned as a witch in 1431, About fifty years later the Church 
of Rome fulminated a bull against witchcraft. The number of suspected 
persons already burned at the stake or subjected to the most cruel torments 
is estimated at many thousands. 

In taking leave of the Dark Ages we do not take our leave of witchcraft. 
More than a hundred thousand victims had perished in Germany and France 
alone before the Mayfloxcer sailed from Delft, The Pilgrims, I engage, be- 
lieved in it to a man. 

Old England ! Why, the statute against witchcraft was not repealed un- 
til 1736, in the second George's time, though it had lain dormant some years. 
The last recorded execution in the British Islands occurred in Scotland, as 
late as 1722. The sixth chapter of Lord Coke's "Third Institutes" is de- 
voted to a panegyric on the statutes for punishing " conjuration, sorcery, 
witchcraft, or enchantment." The laws of England were the fundamental 
law of New England ; Avitchcraft was in the list of recognized crimes through- 
out Christendom, 

France, under Louis le Grand, whose style history will change, notwith- 
standing his famous "i' etat c'est 7noi" to Louis the Little, was immeshed in 
the net of superstition. The highest personages of the court resorted to the 
astrologers for horoscopes, charms, or pliilters. We might see later the magic 

* Mather and Hutchinson deal largely with it. Upliam and Drake have comjnled, arranged, 
and analyzed it. 

"^ Exod. xxii., 18 (1491 B.C.); "Thou shah not suffer a witch to live." 

14 



210 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 

and sorcery of the sixteenth century and of the seventeenth transformed into 
studies in cliemistry under tlie Regency, and become experiments in magnet- 
ism in the eigliteenth century. 

The settlers in New England, who brouglit all their Old- World supersti- 
tions with them, were not surprised to find the Indians fully impregnated 
with a belief in magic equal to their own. The wonderful cures of the Indian 
magicians or medicine-men were thoroughly believed in, and are vouched for 
by white evidence. One of their favorite methods of revenging private in- 
jury was by enchanting a hair, which entered the bodies of their enemies and 
killed them while sleeping. , It is noted that Tituba, an Indian, had much to 
do with the outbreak in Salem village. 

Sir William Phips, an illiterate but not incapable man, had been appointed 
Governor of Massachusetts Bay, under the new charter of William and Mary. 
The cliarter conferred the power of civil government, and separated the legis- 
lative from the judicial authority. Sir William constituted a commission of 
seven to try the witchcraft cases at Salem. As he had no power to create 
such a court under the charter, one of the saddest reflections that arise from 
these bloody proceedings is that twenty persons suftered death for an imagi- 
nary ci'inie, inflicted by an illegal tribunal. The province law of 1692 de- 
creed death for " enchantment, sorcery, charm, or conjuration, or invocation, or 
to feed any wicked spirit." 

The first authenticated case of witchcraft in New England, and also the 
first execution, took place at Boston, as early as 1648. The culprit, Margaret 
Jones, of Charlestown, was suspected of having and using the "malignant 
touch." She professed some knowledge of medicine, and probably availed 
herself of the awe in which she was held by the superstitious to ply her trade. 
jNIany other cases are mentioned in the other colonies, Connecticut bearing 
her full share, before the climax of 1692 is reached. Then, as afterward, the 
accusations fell chiefly upon women ; the old, friendless, or lialf-witted bear- 
ing the burden of every accident in their neighboi'hood. 

An English writer gravely says in 1690 : " Several old women suspected for 
witches in and about Lancashire have been often noted to have beards of con- 
siderable growth, tho' that's no general rule, some of the reverend and virtu- 
ous being often liable to the same." Everywhere witchcraft was received as 
a stubborn fact. The criminal codes of nearly if not quite all the colonies 
recognized it. In Pennsylvania, if tradition may be believed, the fact was 
met by no less stubborn common sense. It is saidj when Philadelphia was 
three years old, a woman was brought before Governor Penn, charged with 
witchcraft and riding through the air on a broomstick. Although the woman 
confessed her guilt, she was dismissed by the Quaker magistrate with the as- 
surance that, as there was no law against it, she might ride a broomstick as 
often as she pleased. 

Could a full and candid confession be obtained of the present generation 



SALEM VILLAGE, AND '92. 



213 



tliere would appear more superstition than we wot of, sucli as would show us 
legitimate descendants of cruilulous colonists. It is not long since a staid old 
town in Massachusetts was in consternation at the report of a ghost in a 
school-room. Signs and portents have been handed down and are religiously 
believed in by other than the ignorant and credulous, as has been already 
stated in a former chapter. A very small proportion of the skeptical could 
be induced to enter a church-yard at night. There is some subtle principle 
of our nature that gives ready adhesion to the mystical or the marvelous ; 
and it is believed 
they were not dif- 
ferently constitu- 
ted in 1692. 

Leaving the 
Witch Ground, 
the visitor, in re- 
tracing his steps, 
Avill pass near the 
old Nurse House, 
a memorial of one 
of the most dam- 
ning of the inno- ^'^^^ 
cent sacrifices to 
superstition. It 

is not easy to sit down and write of it with the indifference of tlie pi-ofession- 
al historian. 

Rebecca Nurse, aged and infirm, universalh^ beloved by her neighbors, 
was accused. The jury, moved by her innocence, having brought in a verdict 
of " not guilty," the court sent them out again with instructions to find her 
guilty. She was executed. The tradition is that her sons disinterred her body 
by stealth from the foot of the gallows, where it had been thrown, and bi-ought 
it to the old homestead, laying it reverently and with many tears in the little 
burying-ground which the family always kept, and which is still seen nearby. 

But briefly to our history. We there discover that twenty persons lost 
their lives through the denunciation of eight simple country girls, the young- 
est being eleven, and the oldest not more than twenty years of age.' These 
maidens met at the house of Samuel Parris, the then minister of the village, 
and on the spot where the earth is now trying to heal the scar left by the 
old cellar. They formed what was then and is still known as a " circle " in 
New England, devoted in these more modern days to clothing the heathen 
and bewitching the youth who enter their influence. 

' Abigail Williams, eleven; Mary Walcut, seventeen; Ann Putnam, twelve; Mercy Lewis, 
seventeen ; Mary Warren, twenty ; Elizabeth Booth, eighteen ; Sarah Ciiurchill, twenty ; Susannah 
Sheldon, age not known. 




REBECCi MRSE S HOU^E 



214 



THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 



E^^ 



The most plausible, ami therefore the commonly received opinion is, that 
these girls, having at first practiced some of th» well-known methods of per- 
forming magic, were led into a series of false accusations which, from being 
conceived in a spirit of mischief, grew into crimes of the fii'st magnitude as 
they ibund themselves carried away by a frenzy they had not moral courage 
to stay. Another presumption supposes the girls believers in their own pow- 
ers. This view'is sustained by the universal belief in witchcraft, the ready 
adhesion given to their charges, the support they received from the judges, 
and the terrible power with which they found themselves possessed. Anoth- 
er solution is found in the occult influences of second-sight so widely credited- 
in Scotland in years by-gone, the psychology and clairvoyance of the present 
day. Dr. S-Tmucl Johnson ^^aid he would rather believe in second-sight than 

in the poetr}^ of 
Ossian. If the 
soundest thinkers 
of the nineteenth 
century are stag- 
gered to account 
for the phenomena 
of spirit-rappings, 
it is wise to defer 
a hasty condem- 
nation of the "pos- 
sessed damosels " 
of Salem village. 

Instead of ply- 
ing its needles, the 

circle was engaged in attempts to discover the futui-e. Rev. John Hale, in 
his "Modest Inquiry into the Nature of Witchci-aft," has this to say: 

"I fear some young persons, through a vain curiosity to know their fu- 
ture condition, have tampered with devil's tools, so far that thereby one door 
wae opened to Satan to play those ])ranks — Aii9io 1692. I knew one of the 
Afllicted persons, who (as I was credibly informed), did try with an egg and 
a glass to find her future husband's calling; till there came up a coftin, that 
is, a spectre in likeness of a coffin. And she was afterward followed with 
diabolical molestation to her death; and so dyed a single person. A just 
warning to others, to take heed of handling the devil's weapons lest they get 
a wound thereby." This John Hale, teacher of the people, was at first a 
zealous believer. Perhaps the denunciation of his own wife had something 
to do with his backsliding into common sense. 

The accusing girls were believed infallible witch-finders. Their services 
were consequently in demand as their fame spread abroad. Some of them 
were taken to Andover, leaving distrust, dismay, and death in the quiet old 




PUOCTER HOrSE. 



SALEM VILLAGE, AND '92. 215 

West Parisli. "In a sliort time," says the annalist, "it was commonlv' re- 
ported forty men of Andover could raise tlie devil as well as any astroloo-er." 

A "Boston Man" having taken his sick child to Salem in order to consult 
tlie afflicted ones, obtained the names of two of his own towns-people as the 
authors of its distemper; but the Boston justices I'efused warrants to appre- 
hend tliem, and Increase Mather asked the father if there was not a God in 
Boston that he must go to the devil in Salem. These two persons are said 
to have been Mi's. Thatcher, mother-in-law of Curwin, one of the judges,' and 
the wife of Sir William Phips. 

As soon as the prosecutions stopped, it was remarked that the apparitions 
ceased. Once or twice the accuser recoiled before a sharp and swift reproof, 
as at Lieutenant Ingersoll's, when one of them cried out, "There's Goody 
Procter !" Raymond and Goody IngersoU told her flatly she lied ; there was 
nothing. The girl was cowed, and "said she did it for sport." 

Even the witchcraft horrors have a humorous side — grimly humorous, it 
is true, like the jokes cracked in a dissectiug-room. Tiie thought of pots and 
kettles jumping on the crane, of anchors lea])ing overboard of themselves, 
and of hay-cocks found hanging to trees is rather mirth-provoking. Mirroi's 
were daily consulted by maids and widows looking for a husband. A mat- 
ter of life and death could not prevent George Jacobs, the old grandfather, 
from laughing heartily at the spasmodic antics of Abigail Williams. 

It seems a pity that New England in her greatest need should have found 
no champion, like St. Dunstan, to argue with and Anally compel the devil to 
own himself confuted, as, according to vulgar belief, he did, by taking the 
fiend by the nose with a pair of rod-hot tongs; or as Ignatius Loyola, who, 
when disturbed at his devotions by the devil, seized his cudgel and drubbed 
him away.^ Montmorency, a peer and marshal of France, son of the famous 
Bouteville, whom Richelieu had caused to be decapitated for fighting a duel 
at midday in the Place Royal, was weak enough to visit La Voisin, the re- 
nowned conjui'or and fabricator of poisons in the reign of Louis XIV. La 
Voisin had promised to show him the devil, and the duke was curious. 
When the marechal whipped out his rapier and thrust vigorously at the spec- 
tre, it fell on its knees, and begged its life. The devil proved to be a con- 
federate of La Voisin. Archibald, duke of Argyle, was haunted by blue 
phantoms — the origin of our epithet for melancholy, "blue devils." 

In the village tavern there Avas a battle with spectres that Abigail Wil- 
liams and Mary Walcut declared were present. Benjamin Hutchinson and 
Eleazer Williams pulled out their swords and cut and stabbed the air until, 
as the two girls averred, the floor was deep in ghostly blood ! 

A ride through the woods then was little coveted by the stoutest hearts. 
A spark of fear is soon blown into uncontrollable panic. Bushes grew spec- 

■ Account of Thomas Brattle. " See his life, page 80. 



216 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 

tres and trees outstretched goblin arms. Elizabeth Hubbard was riding- 
home from meeting on the crupper, behind old Clement Coldum. The rus- 
tling leaves were witches' whisperings, the white birches seemed ghosts in 
their winding-sheets. The woman, faint-hearted and overmastei-ed by a 
nameless dread, cried out to the goodman to ride for life — the woods were full 
of devils. Though he could see none, the valiant rider spurred his horse like 
mad, and rode as Tam O'Shanter rode his fearful race when pursued by the 
witches of Kirk Alloway. 

The trysting-place of the witches was in Parris's pasture. It was here 
Abigail Hobbs, who had sold herself to the " Old Boy," attending, saw the sac- 
rament of the " red bread and the red wine " administered to the devil's elect. 
Poor George Burroughs, whom we met for a moment in our walk through 
Wells, was denounced for summoning with a trumpet the attending witches. 
Obedient to the sound, from far and near, the withered beldams, toothless 
hags in short petticoats, white linen hoods, and conical high crowned hats, 
come flocking on flying broomsticks. Satan is there in person, not playing 
the bagpipe, as in Tam O'Shanter's fearful conclave, but with the convention- 
al book written in letters of blood. 

Certes, these were but rude ghosts. Nowadays the devil is raised as 
easily, but conducts himself with greater propriety, as becomes the devil of 
the nineteenth century. The dani]) grass of the church-yard and the witches' 
den are bugbears no longer. We sit in a comfortable apartment around a 
mahogany table. Our ghost no more appears in mouldy shroud, but, like a 
well-bred spectre, knocks for admittance. Soon his card will be handed in 
on a salver, and we may perhaps in time expect daily weather reports from 
the nether world. 

Before leaving the village, I turned into one of those old abandoned roads 
in which I like so well to walk. Left on one side by a shorter cut, saving 
some rods to this hurrying age, the deserted by-way conducts 3'ou into soli- 
tudes proper for communion with the past. Grass has sprung up so thickly 
as almost to conceal traces of the once well-worn ruts, now only two indis- 
tinct lines of lighter green. Young pines, a foot high, are rooted in the cart- 
way; stone walls, moss-grown and tumbling down. Here and there are the 
ghastly remains of some old orchard, the ground strewed with withered 
branches. A half-obliterated cellar denotes a former habitation ; even the 
land betrays evidences of having been turned by the plows of two centuries 
ago. Who have passed this way ? Perhaps the laying-out of this very road 
begot disputes transmitted from father to son. 

A mile beyond the Witch Neighborhood the Andover road crosses the 
Newburyport turnpike. At the junction of the two roads stands the old 
farm-house in which Israel Putnam, the "Old Put" of the Revolutionary 
army, was born. 

The house, or rather houses, for two structures compose it, is still occu- 



SALEM VILLAGE, i\ND '92. 



21' 



pietl by Putnams. The newer building, ah-eady old by comparison with some 
of its neighbors, was built in 1744; the original in 1650, or thereabouts, ac- 
cording to family tradition. One object, to which the attention of every vis- 
itor is directed, is the old pollard of enormous girth standing near the house. 
House and tree seem types of the sturdy, indomitable old man, who at nearly 
three-score was full of the rage of battle. 

By the courtesy of the family, ever ready to indulge a proper curiosity, 
I looked over the old house from garret to cellar. The little room in which 
the general was born remains just as when its rough-hewn posts and thick 
beams were revealed to his astonished gaze. There are few, relics of the gen- 
eral remaining. 




BIRTHPLACE OF PUTNAM. 

While in the Wadsworth Museum at Hartford, I lately saw the damaged 
sign displayed by Putnam when he kept an inn at Brooklyn, Connecticut, 
about 1768. Another famous soldier, Murat, was the son of an auhergiste, and 
Xapoleon was not too willing on this account to give him the hand of his 
sister. 

The Putnams settled early in Salem. John, the first emigrant, came from 
Buckinghamshire, in 1G34, with three sons, Thomas, Nathaniel, and John. 
Some of the name exercised a fiital influence during the reign of witchcraft. 
Israel was already an old man when he left his plow in the furrow to gallop 
to Cambridge, having been born in 1718. At twenty-one he removed to 



218 



THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 




Pomfret, Connecticut. Piitnam 
was prompt, resolute, and inca- 
pable of feai- — full of fight, and 
: always ready. Washington, who 
> did not judge badly, thought 
him the only fit man to make an 
assault on Boston. Though un- 
educated, Putnam wrote pith- 
ily, as to Governor Tryon: 

" Sir, — Nathan Palmer, a lieu- 

= tenant in your king's service, 

J,'' 1 was taken in my camp as a spy ; 

-^3 he was condemned as a spy ; and 

he shall be hanged as a spy. 

" P. S. — Afternoon. He is 
hanged." 

Danvers, in whose territory 
we have been rambling, is an 
aggregate of several widely 



■^^.'"~-^- 



PUTNAM IN BRITISH UNIFORM. i mi i ■ 

scattered villages taken irom 
Salem in the last century. Some of its villages ha\ e grown into gdod-sized, 
])rosperous towns, and one has taken the name of her eminent banker-philan- 
thropist, George Peabody. When at Salem, the visitor may easily reach 
Peabody, Danvers, and the Witch Neighborhood by rail, having in the latter 
instance a walk of a mile before him on leaving the little station near the 
Putnam House. In a circuit of several miles, embracing what is to be seen 
of interest on 

this side, it is, '-^ ''^ 

perhaps, better 
to leave Salem 
by the old Bos- 
ton road and re- 
turn to it by the 
Andover high- 
way. Following 
this route, we 
successively pass ^^ 
by Governor En- 
dicott's farm, on 
which is still seen 
the aged pear- 




,V^ 



ENDICOTT TEAU-TIJEE. 



i 



SALEM VILLAGE, AND -92. 



219 



tree, sole velic of tlie ancient orcbard,' the liouse which became the head- 
quarters ill 1774 of General Gage, and the Wjtch Neighborhood. But before 
hurrying away from Peabody, it will be well to read the inscription on the 
monnmeiit which one sees in the main street," examine the memorials of ro5'al 
munificence in the library of the Institute,^ and, if the stranger be of my 
mind, to halt for a moment before the humble dwelling in which Bowditch 
was born. As there is no place in New England which so highly prizes its 
antique memorials and traditions as Salem, the first person you meet will be 
able to direct you to the one or relate to you the other. 

" Endicott had a grant of three hundred acres on the tongue of land between Cow-house and 
Duck rivers. The site does justice to his discernment. 

^ Raised in 1837 to the memory of sokliers of Danvers killed in the battle of Lexington. 

^ The Queen's portrait by Tilt, the gold box and medal presented by the city of London and by 
Congress to Mr. Peabody. 




'UTMA.VI S TAVEKN SlUN. 




WASHINGTON STREET, SALEM. 



CHAPTER XV. 



A WALK TO WITCH HIIX. 

"Do not the hist'ries of all ages 
Relate miraculous presages, 
Of strange turns in the world's affairs, 
Foreseen by astrologers, soothsayers, 
Chaldeans, learned genethliacs, 
And some that have writ almanacs ?" 

Hudihras, 

TN 1692 Salem may have contained fonr hundred houses. A few specimens 
-^ of this time now remain in odd corners — Rip Van AVinkles or Wander- 
ing Jews of old houses, that have outlived their day of usefulness, and would 
now be at rest. Objects of scorn to the present o'eneration, they have silent- 
ly endured the contemptuous flings of the passer-by, as well, perchance, as the 
frowns and haughty stare of rows of plate-glass windows along the street. 
As well put new wine in old bottles, as an old house in a new dress ; it is 
always an old house, despite the thin veneer of miscalled improvements. The 
architect can do nothing with it to the purpose ; the carpenter can make 
nothing of it. There they are, with occupants equally old-fashioned — of, yet 
not belonging to the present. Some have stood so long in particular neigh- 



i 



A WALK TO WITCH HILL. 



221 




BIKTHPLACE OF HAWTHOKNE. 



borlioods, have 
outlived so many 
modern stvuc- 
tures, as to be- 
come points of 
direction, like 
London Stone 
or Charing-cross. 
The stranger's 
j)uzzled question- 
ing is often met 
with," You know 
that old house in 
such a street ?" 
And so the old 
liouse helps us to find our way not alone to the past, but in tlie present. 

Undoubted among such specimens as will be met with in the neighborhood 
of the wharves, or between Essex Street and the water-side, is the old gam- 
brel-roofed, portly -chimneyed house in which our "Wizard of the North" 
first drew breath. It stands in Union Street, at the left as you pass down. 
Many pilgrims loiter and ponder there over these words: 

" Salem, October 4th, Union Street [Family INIansion]. 
" Here I sit in ray old accustomed chamber, where I used to sit in days 
gone by. Here I have written many tales — many that have been burned to 
ashes, many that doubtless deserved the same fate. This claims to be called 
a haunted chamber, for thousands upon thousands of visions have appeared to 
me in it; and some few of them have become visible to the world. If ever 

I should have a 
biographer, he 
ought to make 
great mention of 
this chamber in 
my memoii's, be- 
cause so much of 
my lonely youtli 
was wasted here, 
and here my 
mind and charac- 
tei- were formed ; 
and here I have 
been glad atid 
bUATTucK uousE. liopcful, aud hcrc 




222 



THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 




ROOM IN WHICH UAWTHORNE WAS BOKN. 



I have been de- 
spondent. And 
here I sat a long, 
long time, wait- 
ing patiently for 
the world to know 
me, and some- 
times wondering 
why it did not 
know me soon- 
er, or whether it 
would evei" know 
me at all — at 
least, till I were 
in my grave." 

It is not my purpose to attempt a description of Salem, or of what is to 
be seen there. Her merchants ai-e princes. No doubt they were in Josselyn's 
mind when he said some of the New Englanders were "damnable rich." 
French writers of that day speak of her " bourgeois entierement richest Those 
substantial mansions of red brick, tree- shaded and ivy-trellised, represent 
what Carlyle named the "noblesse of commerce," with money in its pocket. 

Writing in 1685 upon the English invasions of Acadia, Sienr Bergier thus 
characterizes Salem and Boston : 

" The English who inliabit these two straggling borouglis {honrgades) are 
for the greater part fugitives out of England, guilty of tlie death of the late 
king (Charles Stuart), and accused of conspiring against the reigning sovei'- 
eign. The rest are corsairs and sea-robbers, who have united themselves 
with the former in a sort of independent republic." This is rather earlier 
than the date usually fixed for the planting of democracy in America, but per- 
haps none too early. Endicott had then cut the cross fi-om the standard of 
England with his poniard ; and Charles II. had been humbled in the persons 
of his commissioners. 

Let us walk on through Essex Street, unheeding the throng, unmindful of 
the statelier buildings, until we approach an ancient landmark at the corner 
of North Street. Its claims on our attention are twofold. It is said to liave 
been the dwelling of Roger Williams, for whom Southe}% when reminded 
that Wales had been more famous for mutton than great men, avowed he 
had a sincere I'espect, yet it is even more celebrated as the scene of examina- 
tions during the Reign of Terror in 1692.^ 



^ Considerable changes were necessary so long ago as 1674-'75, when it became the property 
of Jonathan Corwin, of witchcraft notoriety. In 1745, and again about 1772, it underwent other 
repairs, leaving it as now seen. 



A WALK TO WITCH HILL. 



223 



In appearance the original house might have been transplanted out of old 
London. Its peaked gables, with pine-apples carved in wood surniountin"'-, 
its latticed windows, and colossal chimney, put it unmistakably in the a^-e of 
rufts, Spanish cloaks, and long rapiers. It has long been divested of its an- 
tique English character, now appearing no more than a reminiscence of its 
former self. However, from a recessed area at the back its narrow casements 
and excrescent stairways are yet to be seen. A massive frame, filled- between 
with brick, plastered with clay, with the help of its tower-like chinmey, has 
stood immovable against the assaults of time. Such houses, and their num- 




TIIE OLD WITCH HOUSE. 



ber is not large, represent the original forest that stood on the site of ancient 
Salem. 

Jonathan Corwin, or Curwin, made a councilor under the new charter 
granted by King William, was one of the judges before whom the preliminary 
examinations were held, both here and at the Village. Governor Corwin, of 
Ohio, is accounted a descendant, as was the author of " The Scarlet Letter" 
of another witch-judge, John Ilathorne. The reader may imagine the nov- 
elist on his knees before the grave-stone of his ancestor, striving to scrape 
the moss from its half- obliterated characters.' Other examinations took 
place in Thomas Beadle's tavern. 



' A scene from life in the old Copp's Hill burial-ground at Boston. 



224 THE NEW ENGLAND CD AST. 

^^•^j^ yjj'Stsm'^ ecm^j^^W cf t^iAMZ-^MMyr^ 'A^*^ 



VJ^Ul. Ujl. Ss^J^i B^n^^ v^'Kai^ <^s^&jiA ^lUJt fr^i^i^ Iq 

/><^ f^ ^o^ ear, ^aJk ^^ *fc^ ,^^^ ^ /^ 



lu ^ » 3<rf^^^ 







FRAGMENT OF EXAMINATION OF KEI3ECCA NURSE, 

lu Handwriting of Rev. Samuel Parris.i 



Knowing the wovld believed in witchcraft, our horror at the atrocities of 
'92 is moderated by the probability that nothing less than the shedding of in- 
nocent blood could have annihilated the delusion. The king believed in it, 

' In the library of Harvard College is a book having the name of Parris on the fly-leaf. 



A WALK TO WITCH HILL. 



225 



the governoT' anrl 
judges believed 
in it, and the 
most sensible and 
learned gave am- 
jile credence to 
it. Queen Anne 
Avrote a letter to 
Phips that shows 
she admitted it 
as a thing un 
questioned.' TIil 
clergy, with sin 
gular unanimity, 
recognized it. 




THOMAS beadle's tavekn, 1692. 



The revulsion that followed equaled the precipitation that had marked the . 
proceedings. One of the judges made public confession of his error.* Offi- 
cers of the court were persecuted nntil the day of their death. 

There is one hard, inflexible character, that was never known to have re- 
lented. William Stoughton, lieutenant-governor, presided at these trials. It 
is related that once, on hearing of a reprieve granted some of the condemned, 
he left the bench, exclaiming, " We were in a way to have cleared the land 
of these. Who is it obstructs the course of justice I know not. The Lord be 
merciful to the countr3^" 

This pudding-faced, sanctimonious, yet merciless judge had listened to the 
heart-broken appeals of the victims, raising their manacled hands to heaven 
for that justice denied them upon earth. "I have got nobody to look to but 
God." "There is another judgment, dear child." "The Lord will not suflfer 
it." Others as passionately reproached their accusers, but all were confound- 
ed, because all were believers in the foct of witchcraft.^ 

Whether Witch Hill be the first or last place visited, it is there Salem 
witchcraft culminates. There is seen, in approaching by the railway from 
Boston, a bleak and rocky eminence bestrown with a little soil. Houses of 
the poorer sort straggle up its eastern acclivity, while the south and west faces 
remain as formed by nature, abrupt and |)recipitous. The hill is one of a range 
stretching away northward in a broken line toward the Merrimac. On the 
summit is a tolerably level area of several acres, Not a tree was growing 
on it when I was there. The bleak winds sweep over it without hinderance. 

' She approved Governor Phips's concluct, but advised the utmost moderation and circumspec- 
tion in all proceedings for witchcraft. — " Manuscript Files." 

^ Samuel Sewall, afterward chief-justice of the Supreme Court of the province. 

' Some of the pins said to have been thrust by witches into the bodies of their victims are still 
preserved in Salem. 

15 



226 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 

On tlie 19th of July, 1692, an unusual stir might have been observed in 
Salem. We may suppose the town excited beyond any thing that had been 
known in its history. The condemned witches, Sarah Good, Sarah Wildes, 
Elizabeth Howe, Susannah Martin, and Rebecca Nurse, are to be hanged on 
Gallows Hill. 

The narrow lane in which the common jail is situated is thronged Avith 
knots of men and women, wearing gloomy, awe-struck faces, conversing in 
under-tones. Before the jail door are musketeers of the train-band, armed 
and watchful. The crowd gives way on the approach of a cart that stops in 
front of the prison door, which is now wide opened. On one side stands the 
jailer, with ponderous keys hanging at his girdle ; on the other is the sheriff, 
grasping his staff of office. The guard clears a passage, and then the sheriff's 
voice is heard calling upon the condemned to come forth. 

There are five of them, all women. They look pale, haggard, despairing. 
At sight of them a murmur ripples through the crowd, succeeded by solemn 
stillness. As they mount the cart with weak and tottering steps — for some 
are old and feeble and gray-haired — audible sobs are heard among the by- 
standers. Men's lips are compressed and teeth clenched as they look on with 
white faces. All is ready. The guard surrounds the cart, as if a rescue were 
feared. It takes a score of strong men, armed to the teeth, to conduct five 
helpless women to death ! 

I suppose there were outcries, hootings, and imprecations, as is the rabble's 
wont. If so, I believe they were borne with the resignation and heroism that 
make woman the superior of man in supreme moments. At last the caval- 
cade is grouped around the place of execution. The gallows and the fatal 
ladder are there, grotesque yet horrible. To each of those five women they 
meant martyrdom, and nothing less. 

The provost-marshal commands silence while he reads the warrant. This 
formality ended, he replaces it in his belt. Expectation is intense as the con- 
demned are seen to take leave of each other, like people who have done with 
this world. Then a shiver, like an electric spark, runs through the multi- 
tude as the hangman seizes them, pinions and blindfolds them, and, in the 
name of King William and Queen Mary, hangs them by the neck until dead. 

Being leagued with Satan, they were denied the consolations of religion 
vouchsafed to pirates, murderers, and like malefactors. Poor old Rebecca 
Nurse had been led, heavily ironed, up the broad aisle of Salem Church to 
be thrust out of its communion. At the scaffold Rev. Mr. Noyes, of Salem, 
insulted the last moments of Sarah Good. "You are a witch, and you know 
it," said this servant of Christ. She turned upon him fiercely, "You lie, and 
if you take away my life God will give you blood to drink.'" That few of 

' Tliis incident appears in Hawthorne's "Seven Gables." The tradition is that Noyes was 
choked with blood — dying by a hemorrhage. 



A WALK TO WITCH HILL 




INTEKIOK OF FIKST CHUKCH.^ 

the martyrs chose to buy their lives with a lie has ennobled their memories 
for all time. It is written : " If I would but go to hell for an eternal moment 
or so, I might be knighted." 

Other executions took place in August and September, swelling the num- 
ber of victims hanged to nineteen. Giles Corey was, by the old English law, 
pressed to death for standing mute w"hen told to plead. 

John Adams mentions a visit to this hill in 1766, then called Witchcraft 
Hill. Somebody, he says, within a few years had planted a number of locust- 
trees over the graves. In 1793 Dr. Morse notes that the graves might still 
be traced. I felt no regret at their total disappearance. Would that the 
bloody chapter might as easily disappear from history ! 



■ The frame of the old First Churcli of Salem has been preserved. It is now standing in the 
rear ot Plummer Hall, a depository of olden relics. 




ireson's house, oakum bat, makblehead. 



CHAPTER XVI. 



MARBLE HE AD. 



"Launcelot. Turn tip on your right hand at the next turning, but at the next turning of all 
on your left ; marry, at the very next turning, turn of no hand, but turn down indirectly to the 
Jew's house." — Merchant of Venice. 

11 /TARBLEHEAD is a backbone of (granite, a vertebra of syenite and por- 



iVl 



phyry thrust out into IMassachusetts Bay in the direction of Cape Ann, 



and hedged about with rocky islets. It is somewhat sheltered from the 
weight of north-east storms by the sweep of the cape, which launches itself 
right out to sea, and gallantly receives the first buffetings of the Atlantic. 
The promontory of Marblehead may once have been a prolongation of Cape 
Ann, the whole coast hereabouts looking as if the ocean had licked out the 
softer parts, leaving nothing that was digestible behind. This rock, on Avhich 
a settlement was begun two hundred and forty odd years ago, performs its 
part by making Salem Harbor on one hand, and another for its own shipping 
on the east, where an appendage known as Marblehead Neck' is joined to it 
by a ligature of sand and shingle. The port is open to the north-east, and 
vessels are sometimes blown from their anchorage upon the sand-banks at 



Captain Goelet calls it an island. 



MARBLEHEAD. 



229 





w the head of the havbor, 

1 though the water is gen- 

§ erally deep and the shores 

1 bokl. At the entrance a 

ij light-house is built on 

g the extreme point of the 

J Neck ; and on a tongue 
of land of the opposite 

^1 shore is Foi't Sewall — a 



;^^;s=a beckoning finger and a 
^ clenched fist. 

The harbor, as the 
"Gazetteer" would, say, 
has a general direction 
from north-east to south- 
west. It is a mile and 
a half long by half a 
mile wide, with general- 
ly good holding ground, 
though in places the bot- 
tom is rocky. La Touche 
Treville lost the Ilermi- 
one's anchor here in 1780, 
when he brought over 
M. De Lafoyette, sent by 
the king to announce the 
speedy arrival of Ko- 
chambeau's army.' Prob- 
ably the good news was 
first proclaimed in the 
narrow streets of Marble- 
head, though it has hith- 
'!^"^: '^ erto escaped a spirited lyric from 
-! some disciple of Mr. Browning. 

The geologist will find Mai-ble- 
head and the adjacent islands an interesting 
ground, with some tolerably hard nuts for his 
hammer. The westerly shore of the harbor is 
GKEAT HEAD. indented with little coves niched in the rock, 

and having each a number, though the Marbleheaders have other names 



' Treville was the man thought most worthy by Napoleon to lead his fleet in the long-meditated 
descent on England. 



230 



THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 



for them. One or two wharves are fitted in these coves, but I did not see 
a vessel unlading or a bale of merchandise there. The flow of the tide as it 
sucked around the wooden piles was the only evidence of life about them. 

The varying formations of these shores go very far to redeem the haggard 
landscape. Even the coves differ in the materials with which their walls are 
built, feldspar, porphyry, and jasper variegating their rugged features with 
pleasing eff"ect. The floor of one of these coves is littered with fractured rock 
of a reddish brown, from which it is locally known as Red Stone Cove. Cap- 
tain Smith says this coast resembled Devonshire with its "tinctured veines 
of divers colors." The Rev. Mr. Higginson, of Salem, in 1629, speaks of the 
stone found here as " marble stone, that we have great rocks of it, and a har- 
bor hard by. Our 
plantation is from 
thence called Mar- 
ble Harbor." His 
marble was per- 
haps the porphy- 
ritic rock which 
it resembles when 
Avetted by sea 
moisture. 

The beach is 
the mall of Mar- 
blehead. It opens 
upon Nahant Bay, 
tvnd is much ex- 
posed to the force 
of south-east gales. 
Over this beach a 
causeway is built, 
which from time 
to time has re- 
quired extensive 
repairs. Under 
the province, and 
as late even as 
1812, the favorite 
method of raising 
moneys for such 
"THE CHURN." purposcs was by 

lottery, duly authorized. In this way a work of public necessity was i-ele- 
gated to the public cupidity. 

A run over the Neck revealed many points of interest. 




There are rock 



.MA.RBLEHEAD. 



231 



cavities of glassy smoothness, worn by the action of pebbles, chasms that re- 
ceive the coming wave and derisively toss it high in air; and there are pre- 
cipitons clifts which the old stone-cutter and lapidary can never blunt, though 
he may fret and fume forever at their base. Looking off to sea, the eye is 
everywhere intercepted by islands or sunken ledges belted with sui-f They 
have such names as Satan, Roaring Bull, Great and Little Misery, Great and 
Little Haste, Cut-throat Ledge, the Brimbles, Cat Island, and the like. Each 
would have a story, if it were challenged, how it came by its name. The 
number of these islands is something surprising. In fact they appear like 
a system, connecting the craggy promontory of Marblehead with the cape 
side. At some time the sea must have burst through this rocky barrier, 
cari-ying all before its resistless onset. The channels are intricate among 
these islands, and must be hit with the nicest precision, or a strong vessel 
would go to pieces at the first blow on the sharp rocks. 

The Neck is the peculiar domain of a transient population of care-worn 
fugitives from the city. The red-roofed cottages were picturesque objects 
among the rocks, but bore marks of the disorder in which the winter had left 
them. They seemed shivering up there on the ledges, though it was the sev- 
enth day of May, for there had been a light fall of snow, followed by a search- 
ing north-west wind. Not even a curl of smoke issued from the chimneys to 
take off the prevailing chilliness. Down at the harbor side there was an old 
farmstead with some noble trees I liked better. On the beach I had trod in 
Hawthorne's "Footprints." I miglit here rekindle Longfellow's "Fire of 
Drift-wood :" 

"We sat within the farm-house old, 

Whose windows, looking o'er tlie bay, 
Gave to the sea-breeze, damp and cold, 

An easy entrance night and day. 

"Not far away we saw the port, 

The strange old-fashioned silent town. 
The light-house, the dismantled fort, 

The wooden houses quaint and brown." 

The light-keeper, whom I found at home, indulged me in a few moments' 
chat. He could not account, he said, for the extraordinary predilection of the 
Light-house Board for whitewash. Dwelling, covered way, and tower were 
each and all besmeared ; and the keeper seemed not overconfident that he 
miglit not soon receive an order to put on a coat of it himself He did not 
object to the summer, but in winter his berth was not so pleasant. I already 
felt convinced of this. To a question he replied that Government estimated 
his services at five hundred dollars per annum; and he pointedly asked me 
how he was to support a family on the stipend ? Yet he must keep his light 
trimmed and burning; for if that goes out, so does he. 

All the light-houses are supplied with lard-oil, which burns without in- 



232 



THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 



crusting the wick of tlie lamp; but the keeper objected that it Avns always 
chilled iu cold weather, and that he nsnally had to take it into the dNvelling 
and heat it on the stove before it could be used. A good deal of moisture 
collects on the plate-glass windows of the lantern when the wind is offshore, 
but if it be off the land the glass is dry. In very cold weather, when it be- 
comes coated with frost, the light is visible but a short distance at sea. To 
remedy this evil, spirits of wine are furnished to keepers, but does not wholly 
remove the difficulty. 




DBriNG FISH, LITTLE HAKBOR. 

Afterward we spoke of the commerce of Marblehead, The only craft 
now in port were five or six ballast-lighters that had wintered in the upper 
harbor; with this exception it was deserted. The keeper had been master of 
a fishing vessel. I could not help remarking to him on this ominous state 
of things. 

''I have seen as many as a hundred and twenty vessels lying below us 
here, getting ready for a cruise on the Banks," he said. 

"And now?" ' 

" Xow there are not more than fifteen sail that hail out of here." 

" So that fishing, as a business — " 

"Is knocked higher than a kite." 

WiU it ever come down asrain ? 



1L\RBLEHEAD. 233 

TVe coraraiserate the sitnation of an individual out of business; what shall 
\re, then, say of a town thrown out of employment ? Before the Revolution, 
Marblehead was our principal fishing port. When the war came t'uis indus- 
trv was broken up for the seven years of the contest. Most of the men went 
into the army, one entire regiment being raised here. Many entered on board 
Mivateers or the public armed vessels of the revolted colonies. At the close 
: the war, great destitution prevailed by reason of the losses in men the 
town had sustained ; and as usual a lottery was resorted to for the benefit of 
the survivors. The War of 1812 again drove the Marblehead fishermen from 
their peaceful calling to man our little navy. At its close five hundred of her 
sons were in British prisons. 

Fisheries have often been called the agriculture of the seas. Sir Walter 
Raleigh attributed the wealth and power of Holland, not to its commerce or 
carrying trade, but to its fisheries. Captain John Smith was of this opinion ; 
so were Mirabeau and De Witt. Franklin seemed to prefer the fisheries of 
America to agriculture ; and Edmund Burke paid our fishermen the noblest 
panegyric of them all: 

'• Xo sea but is vexed by their fisheries. Xo climate that is not witness 
to their toils. Xeither the perseverance of Holland, nor the activity of France, 
nor the dexterous and firm sagacity of English enterprise ever carried this 
most perilous mode of hardy industry to the extent to which it has been 
pushed by this recent people — a people who are still, as it were, but in the 
sristle. and not yet hardened into the bone of manhood."^ 

Add to this Xapoleon's opinion that the American was the superior of the 
Enslish seaman, and national self-complacency may safely rest on two such 
eminent authorities. 

The liorht-keeper, who bad been on the Banks, informed me that it was 
still the custom, when lying to in a heavy blow, to pour oil on the waves 
alongside the vessel ; and that it was effectual in smoothing the sea — not a 
wave breaking within its influence. Dr. Franklin's experiments are the first 
I remember to have read of. A single tea-spoonful, he says, quieted the ruffled 
surface of near half an acre of water in a windy day. and rendered it as smooth 
as a looking-glass.' This man would have triumphed over nature hersel£ 

Without doubt Marblehead owes a large share of her naval renown to her 
fishery ; to those men who entered the sea-service at the bowsprit, like the 
great navigator. Cook, and not at the cabin windows. They gave a distinct- 
ively American character to our little navies of 1776 and 1S12. Southey, 
while writing his "Life of Xel son," flings down his pen in despair to say: 
" What a miserable thing is this loss of a second frigate to the Americans. 
I: is a crnel stroke ; and, though their frigates are larger ships than ours, 
must be felt as a disgrace, and in fact is dL<£rrace. It looks as if there was a 



Address to the Electors of BristoL" * • • Phikst^iical Transactions," rcL Idt., fan iL 



23-4 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. • 

drv-rot iu our wooden walls. Is it that this captain also is a youngster lioist- 
ed up by interest, or that the Americans were manned by Englislnuen, or that 
our men do not tight heartily, or that their men are better than ours?" 

One writer calls the fishery " a great nursery of the marine, from whence 
a constant sujiply of men, inured to the perils of the sea, are constantly ready 
for the service of their country." Supposing this doctrine correct, it becomes 
an interesting question where the sailors of future navies are to come from? 
The whale-fishery has been fiiirly beaten out of the field by oil-spouting rocks. 
Why should we brave the perils of the Arctic circle when by sinking a tube 
in Pennsylvania we may strike a fellow of a thousand barrels, and wax rich 
while asleeji? Xew London, Xantucket, Xew Bedford, and Edgartown have 
answered. The cod and mackerel fisheries have dwindled into like insignifi- 
cance, say Marblehead, Gloucester, and all fishing ports along shore. "When 
these towns, once so exclusively maritime, found the fishery slipping through 
their fingers, they took up shoe-making, and at present you will see plenty of 
Crispins, but not many blue-jackets, in Marblehead. Cobbling is now carried 
on in the barn-lofts, fish-houses, and cottages. Yet this change of condition 
is not met, as in the failing whale-fishery, by a supply from a different source ; 
fish continues to be as highly esteemed and in greater request than ever; it is 
the supply, not the demand, that is diminishing. 

There are some of those larger shoe-factories in the town where hides are 
received at the front door, and are delivered at the back, in an incredibly 
sliort time, ready for wear. The young men I saw in long aprons at the 
benches had none of the rugged look of their fathers. Their white arms 
showed little of the brawn that comes from constant handling of the oar. 
The air of the workshop was stifling, and I gladly left it, thinking these 
were hardly the fellows to stand by the guns or reef-tackles. One old man 
with whom I conversed bitterly deplored tliat shoe-making had killed fish- 
ing, and had made the young men, as he phrased it, " nash," which is what 
they say of fish that the sun has spoiled. At the time I was there shoe- 
making itself was suffering from a depression of trade, and many of the in- 
habitants appeared to be in a state of uncertainty as to their future that, I im- 
agine, may become chronic. One individual, while lamenting the decline of 
business, brightened up as he said, " But I understand they an't much better 
off at Beverly." 

The decline of the cod-fishery is attributed to the use of trawls, and to the 
greed that kills the goose that has laid the golden egg. Formerly fish were 
taken with hand-lines only, over the side of the vessel. Then they began to 
cany dories, in which the crew sought out the best places. The men lost in 
fogs or bad weather while looking for or visiting their trawls swell the list 
of casualties year by year. Fitting out fishing-vessels, instead of being the 
simple matter it once was, has become an affiiir of capital, the trawls for a 
vessel sometimes eostinji fifteen hundred dollars. 



MAEBLEHEAD. 



235 



Douglass gives some particulars of the fishery, as practiced in his own and 
at an earlier day. He says the Xorth Sea cod, and those taken on the Irish 
coast were considered better than the American fish, but were inadequate to 
the supply. Xo fish were considered merchantable in Ensland or Ireland 
less than eighteen inches long from the first fin to the beginning of the tail. 
In Xewfoundland they worked their fish ^ belly down ;" in New England they 
were worked with their backs downward, to receive more salt, and add to 
their weight. The stock-fish of Xorway and Iceland were cured without salt, 
by hanging them in winter upon sticks called by the Dutch "stocks" — this 
mav have been the origin of our dunfish. The fish made in Marblehead for 




^r- -— ^ 



xtsj-Oadtsg fish. 

Spain were known as " Bilboa drithe.^ and could be held out horizontally by 
the tail. Those cured for the westera market were called "Albany drithe,"' 
from the fact that Albany was the head-quarters of that trade. 

To quote from Douglass, he says : " In 1 746 Marblehead ships off more 
dried cod than all the rest of Xew England besides Anno 1732 a good fish 
year, and in profound peace, Marblehead had about one hundred and twenty 
schooners of about fiftv tons burden, seven men aboard, and one man ashore 
to make the fish, or about one thousand men employed, besides the seamen 
who carry the fish to market. Two hundred quintals considered a fare. In 
1747 thev have not exceedinsr seventy schooners, and make five tares yearly 
to L Sables, St. George's Banks, etc." 



236 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 

M. Rochefoucauld Liancourt, who visited New England in 1799, making 
a tour of the coast as fai* as the Penobscot, says at that time tlie vessels were 
usually of seventy tons, and liad a master, seven seamen, and a boy. The 
owner had a quarter, the dryer on the coast an eighth, and the rest was 
shared by the master and seamen, in proportion to the fish tliey had taken. 
Every man took care of his own fish. 

As early as 1631 Governor Matthew Cradock established a fishing station 
at Marblehead, in charge of Isaac AUerton, whose name appears fifth on the 
celebrated compact of the Pilgrims, signed at Cape Cod, November 11th, 1620.' 
Winthrop mentions in his journal that as the Arabella was standing in for 
Naumkeag, on the 12th of June, 1630, Mr. AUerton boarded her in a shallop 
as he was sailing to Pemaquid. Moses Maverick lived at Marblehead with 
AUerton, and married his daughter Sarah. In 1635 AUerton conveyed to his 
son-in-law all the houses, buildings, and stages he had at Marblehead. In 1638 
Moses was licensed to sell a tun of wine a year. 

In Winthrop's "Journal," under tlie date of 1633, is the following with 
reference to this plantation :^ 

'"''February 1. — Mr. Cradock's house at Marblehead was burnt down about 
midnight before, there being then in it Mr, AUerton, and many fishermen 
whom he employed that season, who all were preserved by a special provi- 
dence of God, with most of his goods therein, by a tailor, who sat up tliat 
night at work in the house, and, hearing a noise, looked out and saw the house 
on fire above the oven in the thatch.'" 

"While retracing my steps back to town, I pictured the harbor in its day 
of prosperity. A hundred sail would have given it a degree of animation 
quite marvelous to see. Six hours a liundrod sharp prows point up the har- 
bor, and six they look out to sea. Above the tapering forest of equal growth 
are thrust the crossed spars of ships from Cadiz, in Spain. Innumerable wher- 
ries dart about, rowed by two men each ; they are strongly built, for baiting 
trawls on the banks and in a sea is no child's play. The cheer}' cries, rattling 
of blocks, and universal bustle aboard the fleet announce the preparations for 
sailing. At the top of the flood up go a score of sails, and round go as many 



' A headland of Boston Harbor is named for him. Point AUerton. 

^ "Moses Maverick testifieth that in the yeare 1640 or 41 the toune of Salem pranted unto the 
inhabitants of Marblehead the land we now injoy, with one of Salem, to act with us, w'' acordingly 
was acordingly attended unto the yeare 1648, in which yeare Marblehead was confirmed a toime, 
and to that time y' never knew or understood he desented from what was acted in layeing out land 
or stinting the Comons, and have beene accounted a Toune, and payd dutyes accordingly as it hath 
been required. Taken vpou oath ; IT) : Imo -'^-. Wji. Hathornk, Affit. 

" (Origiual Docnmeut.) Vera Copia, taken the 25 of May, 1674, 

by me, Robert Ford, Cleric." 

° Relics of Indian occupation have been found in Marblehead at various times. There is a shell 
heap on the Wyman Farm, on the line of the Eastern liailway, quite near the farm-house. 



MARBLEHEAD. 



237 



windlasses to a rattling chorus. Anchors are hove short in a trice. The 
vessels first under way draw out from among the fleet, clear the mouth of the 
harbor, and in a few minutes more are flinging the seas from their bows with 
Marblehead Light well under their lee, 

I do not know who first discovered Marblehead. The vague idea asso- 
ciates it with a heap of sterile rocks, inhabited by fishermen speaking an un- 
intelligible jargon. Though not twenty miles from the New England metrop- 
olis, and notwithstanding its past is interwoven with every page of our his- 
toric times, less is known of it than would seem credible to the intelligent 
reader. A faithful chronicle of its fortunes would, no doubt, be sufiiciently 





A GKOUP OF ANTIQUES. 

curious, though many would, I fear, prefer the stories of Tyre and Carthage. 
But Marblehead is unique; there is nothing like it on this side of the water. 

I was struck, on entering the place, with Whitefield's observation when lie 
asked Avhere the dead were buried; for the great Avant appears to be earth. 
But a further acquaintance revealed more pleasant inclosures of turf, orchards, 
and garden-spots than its gaunt crags seemed capable of sustaining. The 
town may be said to embrace two very dissimilar portions, of which the 
larger apjiears paralyzed with age, and the other the outgrowth of a newer 
and more thriving generation. It is with the old town I have to do. 

I preferred to commit myself to the guidance of the narrow sti'eets, and 
drift about wherever they listed. The stranger need not try to settle his 



238 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 

topography beforehand. He would lose his labor. It was only after a third 
visit that I began to have some notions of the maze of rocky lanes, alleys, and 
courts. Caprice seemed to have governed the location of a majority of the 
houses by the water-side, and the streets to have adjusted themselves to the 
wooden anarchy; or else the idea forced itself upon you that the houses must 
have been stranded here by the flood, remaining where the subsiding waters 
left them; for they stand anywhere and nowhere, in a ravine or atojj a cliff, 
croAvding upon and elbowing each other until no man, it would seem, might 
know his own. How one of those ancient mariners rolling heavily homeward 
after a night's carouse could have found his own dwelling, is a mystery I do 
not undertake to solve, 

M. De Chastellux, who had a compliment ready-made for every thing 
American, was accosted when in Boston with the remark, 

"Marquis, you find a crooked city in Boston?" 

"Ah, ver good, ver good," said the chevalier; " it show de UhertV 

I found Washington Street a good base of operations. A modern dwelling 
is rarely met with between this thoroughfare and the water. On State (for- 
merly King) Street there is but one house less than a century old, and the 
frame of that one was being raised the day Washington came to town. Even 
he was struck by the antiquated look of the buildings. The long exemption 
from fire is little less than miraculous, for a building of brick or stone is an 
exception. Old houses, gambrel-roofed, hip-roofed, and jDitch-roofed, with an 
occasional reminiscence of London in Milton's day, are ranged on all sides; 
little altered in a hundred years, though I should have liked better to have 
chanced this way when the porches of some were projecting ten feet into the 
street. I enjoyed losing myself among them ; for, certes, there is more of the 
crust of antiquity about Marblehead than any place of its years in America. 

An air of snug and substantial comfort hung about many of the older 
houses, and some localities betokened there was an upper as well as a nether 
stratum of society in Marblehead. Fine old trees flourished in secluded neigh- 
borhoods, Avhere the brass door-knockers shone with unwonted lustre. I think 
my fingers itched to grasp them, so suggestive were they of feudal times when 
stranger knight summoned castle-warden by striking with his sword-hilt on 
the oaken door. Fancy goes in unbidden at their portals, and roves among 
their cramped corridors and best rooms, peering into closets where choice 
china is kept, or rummaging among the curious lumber of the garrets, the ac- 
cumulations of many generations. On the whole, the dwellings represent so 
far as they may a singular equality of condition. It is only by turning into 
some court or by-way that you come unexpectedly upon a mansion having 
about it some relics of a former splendor. Though Marblehead has its Bil- 
lingsgate, I saw nothing of the squalor of our larger cities; and though it 
may have its Rotten Row, I remarked neither lackeys nor showy equipages. 

There are few sidewalks in the older quarter. The streets are too nar- 



RIARBLEHEAD. 



239 



row to aftord such a 
luxury, averaging, I 
should say, not more 
than a rod in width 
in the older ones, with 
barely room for a 
single vehicle. The 
])asser-by may, if he 
]»leases, look into the 
lirst - floor sitting- 

looms, and see the 
ihmily gathered at 
its usual occupations 
Whether it be a 
greater indiscretion 
to look in at the 
windows than ^ 
to look out of M 
them, as the ^ 

matrons and 
maidens are 
in the hab- 
, it of do- 
ing when a 
stranger is 
in the neighborliood, 
is a question I will- 
ingly remand to the 
decision of my read- 
ers ; yet I confess I found 
the temptation too strong ' 
to be resisted. In order 
to protect those houses at r 
the street corners, a mass- 
ive stone post is often seen 
imbedded in the ground ; 
but to give them a wide berth 
is impossible, and I looked for 
business to be brisk at tlie 
wheelwright's shop. 

Again, as the street encounters 
a ledge in its way, one side of it ^fl 
mounts the acclivity, ten, twenty 




LEE STREET. 



240 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 

feet above your head, Avhile tlie other keeps the level as before. Such acci- 
dental looking-down upon tlieir neiglibors does not, perhaps, argue moral or 
material pre-eminence; but, for all that, there may be a shilling side. One 
thing about these old houses impressed me pleasantly; though many of them 
Avere guiltless of paint, and on some roofs mosses had beguu to creep, and a 
yellow rust to cover the clapboards, there were few windows that did not 
boast a goodly show of scarlet geraniums, fuchsias, or mignonnette, with ivy 
clustering lovingly about the frames, making the dark old casements blos- 
som again, and glow with a wealth of warm color. 

I was too well acquainted with maritime towns to be surprised at finding 
fishing-boats, even of a few tons burden, a quarter of a mile from the water. 
They might even be said to crop out with remarkable frequency. Some were 
covered with boughs, their winter protection ; others were being patched, 
painted, or calked, preparatory for launching, with an assiduity and solicitude 
that can only be appreciated by the owners of such craft. On the street that 
skirts the harbor I saw a fisherman just landed enter his cottage, "paying 
out," as he went, from a coil of rope, one end being, I ascertained, fastened to 
his wherry. I remember to have seen in Mexico the vaqueros, on alighting 
from their mules, take from the pommel of their saddles some fathoms of 
braided hair-rope, called a lariat, and, on entering a shop or dwelling, uncoil 
it as they went. The custom of these Marblehead fishermen seemed no less 
ingenious. 

In a sea-port my instinct is for the water. I have a predilection for the 
wharves, and, though I could well enough dispense with their smells, for their 
sights and sounds. The cross-ways in Marblehead seem in search of the 
harbor as they go wriggling about the ledges. I sliould say they had been 
formed on the ancient footpaths leading down to the fishing stages. At the 
head of one pier, half imbedded in the earth, was an old honey-combed cannon 
tliat looked as if it might have spoken a word in the dispute with the mother 
country, but now played the part of a capstan, and truant boys were casting 
dirt between its blistered lips. In Red Stone Cove there lay, stranded and 
broken in two, a long-boat, brought years ago from China, perhaps,- on the deck 
of some Indiaman. Its build was outlandish ; so unlike the wherries that 
were by, yet so like the craft that swim in the turbid Yang Tse. I took a 
seat in it, and was carried to the land of pagodas, opium, and mandarins. 
Its sheathing of camphor- wood still exhaled the pungent odor of the aro- 
matic tree. On either quarter was painted an enormous ej^e that seemed 
to follow you about the strand. In all these voyages some part of the Old 
World seems to have drifted westward, and attached itself to the shores of 
the New. Here it was a Portuguese from the Tagus, or a Spaniard of Ali- 
cante ; elsewhere a Norwegian, Swede, or Finn, grafted on a strange clime 
and way of life. 

The men I saw about the wharves, in woolen "jumpers" and heavy fish- 



MARBLEIIEAD. 



241 



ing boots, had the true "gninea-stamp" of the old Ironsides of the sea. To 
see those lumbering fishermen in the streets you would not think tliey could 
be so handy, or tread so lightly in a dory. I saw there an old foreign-looking 
seaman, one of those fellows with short, bowed legs, drooping slioulders, con- 
tracted eyelids, and hands dug in their pockets, who may be met with at all 
hours of the day and night hulking about the quays of a shipping town. 
Tliis man eyed the preparations of amateur boatmen with the contemptuous 
curiosity often vouchsafed by such personages in the small aftuir of getting a 
pleasure-boat under way. One poor fellow, who kept a little shop where he 
could hear the wash of the tide on tlie loose pebbles of the cove, told me he 




tucker's wharf — THE STEPS. 

had lost his leg by the cable getting a turn round it. Though they have a 
rough outside, these men have hearts. His skipper, he said, had put about, 
though it was a dead loss to him, and sailed a hundred miles to land his mu- 
tilated sliipmate. 

How did Marblehead look in the olden time? Its early history is allied 
with that of Salem, of which it formed a part until 1648. Francis Higginson, 
who came over in 1629, says, in that year, "There are in all of us, both old 
and new planters, about three hundred, Avliereof two hundred of them are set- 
tled at Nehumkek, now called Salem ; and the rest have planted themselves 
at Masathulets Bay, beginning to build a town there which wee do call 

16 



242 



THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 



Cherton or Charles Town." His New England's "Plantation" is curious 
reading. I have observed in my researches that these o^d divines are often 
fond of drawing the long bow, a failing of which Higginson, one of the earliest, 
seems conscious when he asks in his exordium, " Shall such a man as I lye? 
No, verily !" 

William Wood, describing the place in 1633, says of it : "Marvil Head is 
a place which lyetli 4 miles full south from Salem, and is a very convenient 
place for a plantation, especially for such as will set upon the trade of fishing. 
There was made here a ship's loading of fish the last year, where still stand 
the stages and drying scaifolds." In 1635, the court order that "there shalbe 
a Plantacion at Marblehead." 

John Josselyn looked in here in 1663. "Marvil, or Marblehead," he says, 




gkegoky: street. 



is "a small liarbour, the shore 
rockie, on which the town is 
built, consisting of a few scat- 
tered houses; here they have 
stages for fishermen, orchards, and gardens half a mile within land, good pas- 
tures, and arable land." 

It had now begun to emerge from the insignificance of a fishing village, 
and to assume a place among the number of maritime towns. In 1696 a 
French spy makes report: "Marvalet est compose de 100 ou 120 raaisons 
pescheurs oil il pent entrer de gros vaisseaux," 

In 1707-8 Marblehead was represented to the Lords of Trade as a smug- 
gling port for Boston, for which it also furnished pilots. A few years earlier 
(1704) Quelch, the pirate, had been apprehended there, after having scattered 
his gold right and left. But it was not until an order had come from the 
Governor and Council at Boston that he was arrested, nor had there been a 



I 



MARBLEHEAD. 243 

province law against piracy until within a few j^ears.' Seven of Quelcb's 
gang- were taken by Major Stej^hen Sewall ; and tlie inhabitants of Marble- 
head were required to bring in the gold coin, melted down, and silver plate 
they had not been unwilling to receive. 

It was, no doubt, owing to the lawless habits introduced that the charac- 
ter of the sea-faring population paitook of a certain wildness — such as good 
Parson Barnard inveighs against — manifesting itself in every-day transac- 
tions, and infusing into the men an adventurous and reckless spii'it which 
fitted them in a measure for deeds of daring, and gave to the old sea-port no 
small portion of the notoriety it enjoys. 

Mr. Barnard speaks of the earlier class of fishermen as a rude, swearing, 
fighting, and drunken crew. Tiie Rev. Mr. Whitwell, in his discourse on the 
disasters of 1 V70, does not give them a better character. " No wonder," he says, 
"the children of such parents imitate their vices, and, when they return from 
their voyages, have learned to curse and damn their younger brothers." He 
continues to pour balm into their wounds in this wise : " We hope we shall hear 

no more cursing or profaneness from your mouths Instead of spending 

your time in those unmanly games which disgrace our children in the streets, 
we trust you will be seriously concerned for the salvation of your souls." 

Austin, in his "Life of Elbi-idge Gerry," speaks of the fishermen as a sober 
and industrious class; but the testimony of local liistorians is wholly opposed 
to his assertion.^ They passed their winters in a round of reckless dissi]ja- 
tion, or until the arrival of the fishing season set half the town afloat again. 
It was then left in the hands of the women, the elders, and a few mei"chaiits. 
There is much in the annals of such a community to furnish materials for his- 
tory, or, on a lesser scale, hints for romance. Captain Goelet, who was here 
in 1750, estimated the town to contain about four hundred and fifty houses. 

"Tliey were," he said, "all wood and clapboarded, the generality miserable buildings, mostly close 
in with the rocks, with rocky foundations very Cragy and Crasey. The whole towne is built 
upon a rock, which is heigh and steep to the water. The harbour is sheltered by an island, which 
runs along parallel to it and brakes off the sea. Vessells may ride here very safe ; there is a 
path or way downe to the warf, which is but small, and on which is a large Ware House where 
they land their fish, etc. From this heigh Cliffty shore it took its name. I saw ab' 5 topsail ves- 
sels and ab' 10 schooners or sloops in the harbour; they had then ai)' 70 sail schooners a-fishing, 
with about GOO men and Boys imployd in the fishery : they take vast quantitys Cod, which they 
cure heere. Saw several thousand flakes then cureing. The place is noted for Children, and 
Nouriches the most of any place for its bigness in North America ; it's said the chief cause is attrib- 
uted to their feeding on Cod's heads, etc., which is their Frincipall Dish. The greatest distaste a 
person has to tliis place is the stench of the fish, the whole air seems tainted with it. It may in 
short be said it's a Dirty En-egular, Stincking place.'"' 

' A bill against piracy was ordered to be brought in March 1st, 1G86 ; March 4th the bill passed. 
^ The first mention of Marblehead in the colony records I have seen is of two men fined there 
for being drunk, in the year 1633. 

' "New England Historical and Genealogical Register," 1870, p. 57. 



244 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 

The fortunes of tlie place were now greatly altered. The obscure fishing 
village had become a bustling port, with rich cargoes from Spain and the 
Antilles lying within its rock-bound shores. Ships were being built in the 
coves, and substantial mansions were going up in the streets — in whose cel- 
lars, as I have heard, were kegs of hard dollars, salted down, as one might say, 
like the staple of Marblehead. 

John Adams, then a young lawyer on the cii'cuit, enters in his diary, under 
date of 176G, the brief impression of a first visit to Marblehead: 

" 14, Thursday. — In the morning rode a single horse, in company with Mrs. Cranch and Mrs. 
Adams, in a chaise to Marblehead. The road fiom Salem to Marblehead, four miles, is pleasant 
indeed (so I found it). The grass plats and fields are delightful, but Marblehead differs from Sa- 
lem. The streets are narrow and rugged and dirty, but there are some very grand buildings." 

As John Adams saw it so does the stranger of to-day, ignoring such mod- 
ern improvements as railway, gas-works, telegraph, and factories, and sticking 
closely to tlie skirts of the old town. 

I should say Marblehead might still assert its title to the number of chil- 
dren it " nourishes." Certainly they seemed out of all proportion to the adult 
population. Instinct guides them to the water from their birth, and they may 
be seen paddling about the harbor in stray wherries or clambering up the 
rigging of some collier, in emulation of their elders. Even their talk has a 
salty flavor. I recollect an instance, which must lose by the relation. A 
young scape-grace having incurred the maternal displeasure, and then taken 
to his heels to escape chastisement, the good- wife gave chase, brandishing a 
broomstick aloft, and breathing vengeance on her unnatural offspring. Hav- 
ing the wind fair and a heavy spread of petticoat, she was rapidly gaining 
on the youngster, when a comrade, who was watching the progress of the 
race with a critical eye, bawled out, "Try her on the wind. Bill; try her on 
the wind.'''' 

A sailor on shore is not unlike Napoleon's dismounted dragoon : he is em- 
phatically a fish out of water. One talked of "making his horse fiist ;" an- 
other complained that his neckerchief was "tew taut;" and a third could not 
understand which way to move a boat until his companion called out5"PIaul 
to the west'ard, can't ye ?" 

If not insular, your genuine IMarblehcader is the next thing to it. The 
rest of the world is merged with him into a place to sell his fish and buy his 
salt. Even Salem, Beverly, and the parts adjacent draw but little on his sym- 
pathy or his fellowship: in short, they are not Marblehead. During the Na- 
tive American excitement of IS — , the Marbleheaders entered into the move- 
ment with enthusiasm. A caucus being assembled to nominate town officers, 
one old fisherman came into the town hall in his baize apron, just as he had 
got out of his dorj\ He glanced over the list of officers with an approving 
grunt at each name until he came to that of Squire Fabens. Now Squire 
Fabens, though a Salem man born, had lived a score of years in Marblehead, 



MARBLEHEAD. 



245 



had married, and held office there. Turning wrathfully to the person who 
had given liim the ticket, the fisherman tore it in pieces, exclaiming as he did 
so, " D'ye call that a Native American ticket ? Why, there's Squire Fabens 
on it ; he an't a Marbleheader !" 

Though it is true there are few instances of the fatal straight line in Mar- 
blehead, those who are native there are far from appreciating the impression 
its narrow and crooked ways make on the stranger. They, at any rate, ap- 
peared to find their way without the difficulty I at first experienced. I asked 
one I met if I was in the right route to the depot. "Go straight ahead," 
was his injunction, a direction nothing but a round-shot from Fort Sevvall 
could have followed. But I should add that JVIarblehead is not a labyrinth, 
any more than it is a field for mis- 
sionary work : it has churches, banks, 
schools, a newspaper, and even a de- 
bating society ; and it has thorough- 
fares that may be traversed without a 
guide. 

The great man of Marblehead in 
the colonial day was Colonel Jeremiah 
Lee, whose still elegant mansion is to 
be seen there. Unlike many of the 
gentry of his time. Colonel Lee was a 
thorough-going patriot. He was, with 
Orne and Gerry, a delegate to the first 
and second Provincial Congresses of 
1774. When the famous Revolution- 
ary Committee of Safety and Supplies 
was formed, he became and continued 
a member until his death in May, 1775. 
Colonel Lee was with the conmiittee 
on the day before the battle of Lexington, and with Gerry and Orne remained 
to pass the night at the Black Horse tavern in Menotomy, now Arlington. 
AVhen the British advance reached this house it was surrounded, the half- 
dressed patriots having barely time to escape to a neighboring corn-field, 
where they threw themselves upon the ground until the search Avas ovei*. 
From the exposure incident to this adventure Lee got his death. His towns- 
men treasure his memory as one of the men who formed the Revolution, 
braved its dangers, and accepted its responsibilities. Colonel Lee was a 
stanch churchman, which makes his adhesion to the patriot side the more 
remarkable. 

There is nothing about the exterior of the Lee mansion to atti'act the 
stranger's attention, though it cost the colonel, when furnished, ten thousand 
pounds sterling. As was customary, its offices were on one side and its sta- 




LEE HOUSE. 



246 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 

bles on the other, with a court-yard paved with beach-pebble, in which the 
date of the house, 1768,' may be traced. Entrance was gained on front and 
side over massive freestone steps, that show the print of time to have pressed 
more heavily than human feet. The house, long since deserted by the family, 
is now occupied as a bank. 

On entering the mansion of the Lees the visitor is struck with the expan- 
sive area of the hall, wliich is six paces broad, and of corresponding depth. 
Age has imparted a rich coloring to the mahogany wainscot and casing of 
the staii'case. The balusters are curiously carved in many ditferent patterns; 
tlie walls are still hung with their original paper, in panels representing Ro- 
man or Grecian ruins, with tropliies of arms, or implements of agriculture or 
of the chase between. One panel represented a sea-fight of Blake and Van 
Tromp's day. Some of them have been permanently disfigui-ed by the use 
of the hall, at one time, as a fish-market. In a corner, a trap-door'led to the 
old merchant's wine-cellar, which he thus kept under his own eye. It was 
after a visit to some such mansion that Daniel Webster asked, " Did those 
old fellows go to bed in a coach-and-four ?" 

The rooms 023ening at the right and left of the hall are worthy of it, espe- 
cially the first named, which is wainscoted from floor to ceiling, and enriched 
with elaborate carving. Over the fire-place of this room was formei-ly a por- 
trait of Esther before Ahasuerus, beautifully painted on a panel. There is an 
upper hall of ample size, from which open sleeping a))artments with pictured 
tiles, recessed windows, and panes that were the wonder of the town, in which 
none so large had been seen. 

Would I had been here when the old colonel's slaves kept the antique 
brasses brightly polished, and stout logs crackled and snapped in the fire- 
places, in the day of coftin-clocks, French mirrors, and massive old plate, when 
the bowl of arrack-punch stood on the sideboard, and Copley's portraits of 
master and mistress graced the walls.* The painter has introduced the col- 
onel in a brown velvet coat laced with gold, and full-bottomed wig. He was 
short in stature and rather portly, with an open face, thin nostril, and fine, in- 
telligent eye. The head is slightly thrown back, a device of the iartist to add 
height to the figure. Madam Lee is in a satin overdress, with a pelisse of 
ermine negligently cast about her bare shoulders. She looks a stately dame, 
with her black eyes and self-possessed air, or as if she might have kept the 
colonel's house, slaves included, in perfect order.^ 

When General Washington was making his triumphal tour of the East- 
ern States, in 1789, he came to Marblehead. It was, he says, "four miles out 



' I have seen the date of 176G assigned for its building. 

^ Think of Copley painting these two canvases, eight feet long by five wide, and in his best 
manner, for £25 ! 

^ These portraits are now in possession of Colonel William Raymond Lee, of Boston. 



MARBLE HEAD. 



247 




of the way; but I wanted to see it." And so he turned aside to ride througli 
its rocky lanes, and look into the faces of the men who had followed him from 
Cambirtdge to Trenton, and from Trenton to Yorktown. How the sight of 
tlieir chief must 
have warmed the 
hearts of those 
veterans ! He jot- 
ted down in liis 
diary veiy briefly 
what he saw and 
heard in Marble- 
head: "About 5000 
souls are said to 
be in this place, »- 
which has the ap- 
pearance of antiq- 
uity ; the houses 
are old; the streets 
dirty ; and the 
common people 
not very clean. 
Before we entered 
the town we were 

met and attended by a com'e, till we were handed over to the Selectmen, who 
conducted us, saluted by artillery, into the town to the house of a Mrs. Lee, 
where there was a cold collation prepared ; after partaking of which, we vis- 
ited the harbor, etc." Lafayette, Monroe, and Jackson have been entertained 
in the same house. 

When the Revolutionary junto wished to organize its artillery, William 
Raymond Lee was summoned to Cambridge to command one of the com- 
panies. He was nephew to the old colonel, valiantly taking up the cause 
where his uncle had laid it down. Afterward he served in Glover's regiment, 
passing through all the grades from captain to colonel. Another nephew was 
that John Lee who, while in command of a privateer belonging to the Tracys, 
with a battery, part of iron and partly of wooden guns, captured a ricli ves- 
sel of superior force in the bay. Both the colonel's fighting nephews were 
of Manchester, on Cape Ann. 

Threading my way onward, I came upon the old Town-house, the Fanenil 
Hall of Marblehead, in which much treason was hatched when George HI. 
was king. The Whigs of Old Essex have often been lieard there when grave 
questions were to be discussed, and the jarring atoms of society have oft been 
summoned greeting, 

"To grand parading of town-meeting." 



TOWN HOUSE AND SQUARE. 



248 



THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 



In the old Town-house Judge Story went to school and was fitted for col- 
lege ; the substantial dwelling in which he was born being nearly opposite, 
with its best parlor become, an apothecary's, under the sign of Goodwin. This 
house M'as the dwelling of Dr. Elislia Story, of Revolutionary memory, and 
the birthplace of his son, the eminent jurist. The physicians of Dr. Story's 
time usually furnished their own medicines. In cocked hat and suit of rusty 
black, with saddle-bags and countenance severe, they Avere marked men in 
town or village. Since my visit to Marblehead the last of Dr. Story's eighteen 
children, Miss Caroline Story, died at the age of eighty-five. The chief-justice, 
her brother, was one of the most lovable of men, and was never, I believe, 
ashamed of the slight savor of the dialect that betrayed him native and to 
the manner born. 

The Episcopal church in Marblehead is one of its old landmarks, concur- 
ring fully, so fiir as outward appearance goes, in the prevailing raouldiness. 
It is not remarkable in any way except as an oddity in wood, with a square 

tower of very mod- 
est height sur- 
mounting a broad 
and sloping roof. 
At a distance it is 
scarcely to be dis- 
tinguished in the 
wooden chaos ris- 
ing on all sides ; 
and not long ago 
its front was mask- 
ed by buildings, so 
that the entrance- 
door could only be 
reached by a wind- 
ing path. The par- 
ish has at length 
cleared its ancient 
glebe of intruders, 
and the old church 
is no longer jostled 
by its dissenting 
neighbors. Imme- 
diately adjoining 

is a little church-yard, in which repose the ashes of former worshipers who 
loved these old walls, and would lie in their shadow. 

St. Michael's, as originally built, must have been an antique gem. Ac- 
cording to the account given me by the rector, it had seven gables, topped 




ST. MICHAEL'S, MAKBLEHEAU. 



MARBLEHEAD. 



249 



.,#^ 



by a tower, from which sprung a shapely spire, with another on the north and 
one on the south side. Tlie form of the building was a square, with entrances 
on the south and west. The aisles crossed each other at right angles; the 
ceiling, supported by oaken columns, was in the form of a St. Andrew's cross. 
The present barren area of pine shingles was built above the old roof, which it 
extinguished eftectually. Cotton Mather — he did not allude to the Church of 
England — styled the New England churches golden candlesticks, set up to illu- 
minate tlie country; but what would he have said had he lived to see the Pui'i- 
tan Thanksgiving and Fast gradually superseded by Christmas and by Easter? 

The interior of the old church well repays a visit. Its antiquities are 
guarded as scrupulously as the old faith has been. Suspended from the ceil- 
ing is a chandelier, a wonderful aifa^r in brass, the gift of a merchant of Bris- 
tol, England. The little pulpit, successor to an earlier one of wine-glass pat- 
tern, belongs to an era before the in- 
troduction of costly woods. Above the 
altar is the Decalogue, in the ancient 
lettering, done in England in 1714, 
Manifestly St. Micliael's clings to its 
relics with greater affection than did 
that parish in the Old Country, which 
offered its second-hand Ten Command- 
ments for sale, as it was going to buy 
new ones. In the organ-loft is a dimin- 
utive instrument, going as f:ir back as 
the day of Snetzler. Notwithstanding 
the disappearance of the cross from its 
pinnacle, and of the royal emblems from 
their place (save the mark !) above the 
Decalogue, St. Michael's remains to-day 
an interesting memorial of Anglican 
worship in the colonies. It was the third church in Massachusetts, and the 
fourth in all New England, those of Boston, Newbury, and Newport alone 
having preceded it. 

The names of famous people are perpetuated in the place of their birth in 
many ways. I noticed in Marblehead the streets bore the names of Selman, 
Tucker, Glover, etc. Academies, public halls, and engine-houses keep their 
memory green, or will do so until the era of snobbery ingulfs the place, and 
pulls the old signs down. Its future, I apprehend, is to become a summer re- 
sort. When that period of intermittent prosperity shall have set in in full 
tide, it will be difficult, if not impossible, to preserve the peculiar quaintness 
which now makes Marblehead the embodiment of the old New England life. 

Elbridge Gerry Avas born in Marblehead, He was of middle stature, thin, 
of courteous, old-school manners, and gentlemanly address. He has the name 




ELBKIUGE GEKRY. 



250 



THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 



of a strong parti- 
san, and of stand- 
ing godfather to 
the geographical 
monstrosity called 
the Gerrymander, 
which lias added a 
word to our political vocabulary/ 
A more effective party caricature 
has never api)eared in America. It 
is admitted it has given its author 
a notoriety that has somewhat ob- 
scured eminent public service, and 
made his name a by-word for polit- 
ical chicanery. 

Those who believe tlie Avorst 
bases of political controversy have 
been reserved to our own titne would 
do well to read the histoiy of the 
administrations of Washington, Ad- 
ams, and Jefferson, whom we are ac- 
customed to name with reveix'uce as 
the fathers of the republic, yet who, 
while in office, were the objects of as 
much personal malignity and abuse as tlieir successors have received. Mr. 
Gerry was invited to take a seat in the Massacliusetts Convention when the 
constitution of 1787 was under consideration, in order that that body might 
have the benefit of his conceded sagacity and knowledge of affairs. He op- 
posed the adoption of the constitution before the Convention. At heart Mi\ 
Gerry was an undoubted patriot. Once, when he believed himself dying, he re- 
marked that if he had but one day to live it should be devoted to his country. 
Elbridge Geri-y was destined for the practice of medicine, but engaged in 
mercantile pursuits instead; having acquired a competency at the time of the 
beginning of the Revolution, lie was fice to take part in the struggle. He 
held nuiiiy important offices, and his public career, full of the incidents of 
stirring times, was marked also by some eccentricities. Mr. Gerry, as early 
as November, 1775, introduced a bill into the Pi-ovincial Congress for tlie 
fitting-out of armed vessels by Massachusetts. In the direction of inaugu- 
rating warfare with England at sea, he was, without doubt, the pioneer. 

' It is not settled who is entitled to the authorship of the word "Gerrymander," for which a 
number of claimants have appeared. Tiie map of Essex, which gave rise to the caricature, was 
drawn by Nathan Hale, who edited the Boston Weskly Messenger, in which the political deformity 
first appeared. 




THE GERKYMANDER. 



MARBLEHEAD. 



25L 



The number 
of uaval heroes 
whom Marble- 
head may claim 
as lier own is 
something sur- 
prising. There 
were John Sel- 
man and Nicho- 
las Broughton, 
wlio sailed in two 
armed schooners 
from Beverl}', as 
early as October, 
1775, with in- 
structions from 
Washington to 
intercept, if pos- 
sible, some of the 
enemy's vessels in 
the Gulf of St. 
Lawrence. Fail- 
ing in this object? 
they landed at 
St. John's, now 
Prince Edward 
Island, captured 
the fort, and 

brought off a number of provincial dignitaries of rank. Washington, who 
w-anted powder, and not prisoners, was not well pleased with the result of 
this expedition, as he held it impolitic then to embroil the i-evolted colonies 
with Canada. Much was expected of the liereditary antipathy of the Frencii 
Canadians for their English rulers, but in this respect the general's policy 
was founded in a mistaken judgment of those people. 

Commodore Manly, to whom John Adams says the first British flag was 
struck, was either native born, or came in very early life to Marblehead. He 
was placed in command of the first cruiser that sailed with a i-egular com- 
mission from Washington, in 1775, signalizing his advent in the bay in the 
Lee — a schoonei- mounting only four guns — by the capture of a British vessel 
laden with military stores, of the utmost value to the Americans besieging 
Boston. When this windfall was repoiled to Congress, the members be- 
lieved Divine Providence had interposed in their favor. Our oflicers de- 
clared their w'ants could not have been better supplied if they had themselves 




"old north" congregational church. 



252 



THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 



sent a schetlule of military stoves to Woolwich Arsenal. So apprehensive was 
the general that his prize might slip through his fingers, that all the carts to 
be obtained in the vicinity of Cape Ann were impressed, in order to bring the 
cargo to camp. Manly died in Boston, in 1793, in circumstances nearly allied 
to destitution. He was, says one who knew him well, "a handy, hearty, hon- 
est, benevolent, blunt man, with more courage than good conduct." 

Another of these old sea-dogs was Commodore Samuel Tucker, tlie son of 

a ship-master. The old 
house in which he Avas 
born was standing on 
Rowland Hill. (I do not 
know that he of Surrey 
Chapel had any thing to 
do Avith the name in 
Marblehead.) It Avas be- 
fore the door of this house 
."^ that Tucker, in his shirt- 
^^te^l sleeves, was chopping 
Avood one evening, just 
at dusk, when a finely 
mounted officer clattered 
down the street. Seeing 
Tucker, the officer asked 
if he could inform hira 
Avhere the Hono/able 
Samuel Tucker resided. 
Tucker, astonished at the 
question, answ^ered in the 
negative, saying, " There 
is no such man lives here; 
there is no other Sara 
Tucker in this town but myself." At this reply, the officer raised his beaver, 
and, bowing low, presented him a commission in the navy. 

Tucker, in 1778, was taking John Adams to France in the old frigate Bos- 
ton^"^ when he fell in Avith an enemy. While clearing his decks for action he 
espied Mr. Adams, musket in hand, among the marines. Laying a hand on 
the commissioner's shoulder. Tucker said to him, "I am commanded by the 
Continental Congress to carry you safely to Europe, and I Avill do it," at the 
same time conducting him below. 

The brave Captain Mugford, Avhose exploit in capturing a vessel laden Avith 




SAMl LI. Tr( KEK. 



' The old fngiite Boston was captured at Charleston in 1780 by the British. In 1804 Tom 
Moore went over to England in her, she being then commanded by Captain J. E. Douglas. 



MARBLEHEAD. 



253 



powder in Boston Harbor, in May, 1116, proved of inestimable value, was also 
an inhabitant of Marblehead. Like Sclman and Brougliton, lie had been a 
captain in the famous Marblehead regiment, and his crew were volunteers 
from it. The year previous, Mugford, with others, had been impressed on 
board a British vessel, the Lively, then stationed at Marblehead. Mugford's 
wife, on hearing what had befallen her husband, went off to the fi'ignte and 
interceded with the captain for his release, alleging that they were just mar- 
ried, and that he was her sole dependence for support. The Englishman, very 
generously, restored Mugford his liberty. 

The Trevetts, father and son, were little less distinguished than any al- 
ready named, adding to the high renown of Marblehead, both in the Old War 
and in the later contest with England. 

Glover and his regiment conferred lasting honor on tliis old town by the 
sea. As soon as it had been deter- 
mined to fit out armed vessels, Wash- 
ington intrusted the details to Glover, 
and ordered the regiment to Beverly, 
where these amphibians first equipped 
and then manned the privateers. The 
regiment signalized itself at Long Isl- 
and and at Trenton, and ought to have 
a monument on the highest point of 
land in Marblehead, with the names of 
its heroes inscribed in bronze. Gen- 
eral Glover was long an invalid from 
the effects of disease contracted in the 
ai-my, dying in 1797.' He had been a 
shoe-maker, and is, I imagine, the per- 
son referred to in the following ex- 
tract from the memoirs of Madame 
Riedesel • general glover. 

"Some of the generals who accompanied us were shoe-makers; and uj)on 
their halting days they made boots for our ofticers, and also mended nicely 
the shoes of our soldiers. One of our officers had worn his boots entirely into 
shreds. He saw that an American general had on a good pair, and said to 
him, jestingly, 'I will gladly give you a guinea for them.' Immediately the 
general alighted from his horse, took the guinea, gave up his boots, and put 
on the badly-worn ones of the officer, and again mounted his horse." Gen- 
eral Glover's house is still standing on Glover Square. I made, as every 
body must make, in Marblehead, a pilgrimage to Oakum Bay, a classic pre- 
cinct, and to the humble abode of Benjamin Ireson, whom Whittier has made 




Willi:im P. Upham, of Salem, has wiitten a memoir of Glover 



254 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 

iminortiil. Questionless the poet has done more to make Marhlehead known 
tliau all the historians and magazine-writers put together, though the notori- 
ety is little relished there. Tlie facts were sufficiently dramatic as they ex- 
isted ; but Mr. Whittier has taken a poet's license, and arranged them to his 
fancy. Old Flood Ireson suffered in the flesh, and his memory has been pil- 
loried in verse for a crime he did not commit. Nevertheless, I doubt that 
the people of Marblehead forget that Pegasus has wings, and can no more 
amble at the histoi'ian's slow place than he can thrive on bran and water. 

It is not many years since Ireson was alive, broken in spirit under the ob- 
loquy of his hideous ride. Later in life he followed shore-fishing, and was 
once blown off to sea, where he was providentially picked up by a coaster 
bound to some Eastern port. I do not think he couhl have declared his 
right name, for sailors are superstitious folk, and he would have been account- 
ed a Jonah in any ship that sailed these seas. His wherry having been cut 
adrift, was found, and Old Flood Ireson was believed to have gone to the bot- 
tom of the bay, when, to the genuine astonishment of his townsmen, he ap- 
peared one day plodding wearily along tlie streets. Some charitable souls 
gave him anotlier wherry, but the boys followed the old njan about as he 
cried his fish with their cruel shouts of, 

"I, Flood Ireson, for leaving ii wrack, 
Was blowed out to sea, and couldn't get back." 

There is book authority for the terrible as]>ect of the vengeance of the 
fish-wives of Marblehead, so pictui'esquely portrayed in the poet's lines. In- 
crease Mather, in a letter to Mr. Cotton, 23d of Fifth month, 1677, mentions 
an instance of rage against two Eastern Indians, then prisoners at Marble-* 
■ liead: "Sabbath-day was sennight, the women at Marblehead, as they came 
o\it of the vieeting-liouse, fell upon two Indians that wei'e brought in as cap- 
tives, and, in a tumultuous way, very barbai'ously murdered them. Doubt- 
less, if the Indians hear of it, the captives among them will be served accord- 
ingly." Tliis episode recalls the rage of the fish-women of Paris during the 
Reign of Terror, those unsexed and pitiless viragos of La Halle. 

I could discover little of the old Marblehead dialect, once so distinctive 
that even the better class were not free from it. It is true a few old people 
-still retain in their conversation the savor of it ; but it is dying out. Your 
true Marbleheader would say, " barn in a burn" for "born in a barn." His 
speech was thick and guttural ; only an occasional word falling familiarly 
on the unaccustomed ear. All the world over he was known so soon as he 
opened his mouth. The idiom may have been the outgrowth of the place, or 
perchance a reminiscence of the sj)eech of old-time fishermen, grounded, as I 
apprehend, more in the long custom of an illiterate people than any supposed 
relationship with our English mother-tongue. Whittier was acquainted with 
the jargon, and the question is open to the philologist. 



MARBLEHEAD. 



255 




There is a legend about the cove near Ireson's of a " screechiii<T woman" 
done to death by pirates a century and a half or more past — a shadowy me- 
morial of the fact of their presence here so long ago. They brought her on 
shore from their sl)ip, and murdered her. On each anniversary of her death, 
says the legend, the town was tlirilled to its marrow by the unearthly out- 
cries of the pirates' victim. Many believed the story, while not a few had 
heard the screams. Chief-justice Story was among those who asserted that 
they liad listened to those midniglit cries of fear. 

Passing over the causeway and under the gate-way of Fort Sewall,said to 
have been named from 
Chief- justice Stephen 
Sewall,' who once 
taught school in Mar- 
blehead, I entered the 
spacious ])arade, on 
which a full regiment 
might easily be form- 
ed. The fort was 
built about 1742, and 
until wliat was so long 
known as " the late 
war" with England, 
remained substantial- 
ly in its original pic- 
turesque condition. A 
very old man, wdiom I 
encountered on my way hither, bemoaned the demolition of the old work, 
which had been pulled to pieces and made more destructive during the Great 
Civil War. The walls were originally of rough stone, little capable of with- 
standing the projectiles of modern artillery. There is another fort on the 
summit of a rocky eminence that overlooks the approach to the Neck, built 
also during the Rebellion. When I visited it, the earthen walls of one lace 
had fallen in the ditch, Avhere the remainder of the work bid fair, at no dis- 
tant day, to follow. There is still remaining in the town the quaint little 
powder-house built in 1755, with a roof like the cup of an acorn. 

Seated under the muzzle of one of the big guns of Fort Sewall that point- 
ed seaward, I could descry Baker's Isle with its brace of lights, and the nar- 
row strait through which the Abigail sailed in 1628, with Endicott and the 
founders of Salem on board. Two years later the Arabella " came to an an- 
chor a little within the island." Winthrop tells us how the storm-tossed voy- 
agers went upon the land at Cape Ann, and regaled themselves with store of 




f/»^ -s" 



iUiii' biiWALL. 



' Son of Mnjor Stephen, of Newbury. 



256 



THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 



strawberries. Boston was settled. The little colony gave its left hand to 
Salem, and its right to Plymouth. It waxed strong, and no power has pre- 
vailed against it. 

Little Harbor, north-west of the fort, is the reputed site of the first settle- 
ment at Marblehead. On Gerry's Isl- 
and, which lies close nnder the shore, 
was the house of the fii'st regularly or- 
dained minister ; the cellar and pebble- 
paved yard were, not long ago, identi- 
fied. Near by, on the main-land, is the 
supposed site of the " Fountain Inn," 
w^hich, like the "Earl of Halifax,'*' has 
its romance of a noble gentleman taken 
in the toils of a pretty wench.' Sir 
Charles Frankland, collector of his Maj- 
esty's customs, visits Marblehead, and 
becomes enamored of the handmaid of 
tlie inn, Agnes Surriage. He makes her 
his mistress, but at length, having saved 
his life during the great eartliquake at 
Lisbon, she receives tlie reward of love 
and heroism at the altar as the bai'onet's 
wedded wife. Arthur Sandeyn, who 
was the first publican in Marblehead, 
was allowed to keep an ordinary there in 1640. The port was fortified after 
some fashion as early as 1643-'44. 

I had pointed out to me the spot where the Constitution dropped anchor 
■when chased in here by two British frigates in April, 1814. They threatened 
for a time to fetch her out again; but as Stewart laid the old invincible with 
her grim broadside to the entrance of the port, and the fort prepared to re- 
ceive them in a becoming manner, they prudently hauled off. The battle 
between tne Chesapeake and Shannon was also visible from the high shores 
here, an eye-witness, then in a fishing -boat off in the bay, relating that 
nothing was to be seen except the two ships enveloped in a thick smoke, 
and nothing to be heard but the roar of the guns. When the smoke drifted 
to leeward, and the cannonade was over, the British ensign was seen waving 
above the Stars and Stripes. 

Poor, chivalric, ill-starred Lawrence! He had given a challenge to the 
commander of the Bonne Citoyen^ and durst not decline one." At the Shan- 




POWDER-HOUSE, 1755. 



' See " Old Lamlmarks of Boston," pp. 162, 163. 

^ It has been erroneously stated that Bainbridge accompanied Lawrence to the pier and tried to 
dissuade liim from engaging the Shannon. They had not met for several days. 



MAKBLEHEAD. 



257 



non^s invitation, he put to sea witli an xmlucky sliip, and a mutinous crew 
iVesli from the grog-shops and brothels of Ann Street. He besought them ii: 
burning woids to show theinselves worthy the name of American sailors. 
They re])lied with sullen murmurs. One wretch, a Portuguese named Joseph 
Antonio, came forward as their spokesman. His appearance was singularly 
funtastic. He wore a checked shirt, a laced jacket, rings in his ears, and a 
bandana handkerchief about his head. Laying his hand on his breast, he 
made a profound inclination to his captain as he said : 

"Pardon me, sir, but fair play be one jewel all over the world, and we no 
touchee the specie for our last cruise with Capitaine Evans. The Congress is 
ver' munificent; they keep our piasters in treasury, and pay us grape and 
canister. Good fashion in Portuguee ship, when take rich prize is not pay 
2)Oco a^90co, but break bulk and share out dollar on drum-head of capstan.'" 

Already wounded in the leg, Lawrence was struck by a grape-shot on the 
medal he wore in honor of his former victory. His words, as he was borne 
from the deck, have become a watchword in our navy.'^ Samuel Livermore, 
of Boston, who accompanied Lawrence on this cruise out of personal regard, 
attempted to avenge him. His shot missed Captain Broke. Lawrence hear- 
ing from below the firing cease, sent his sui-geon to tell his officers to fight on. 
"The colors shall wave while Hive!" 
he constantly repeated. He was only 
thirty-four; sixteen years of his life 
had been passed in his country's serv- 
ice. His figure was tall and com- 
manding, and in battle he was the in- 
carnation of a warrior. 

When Mr. Crokei- read the state- 
ment of the action in the House of 
Commons, the members from all parts 
interrupted him with loud and con- 
tinued cheering. Perhaps a greater 
compliment to American valor could 
not have been paid than this. The 
capture of a single ship of any nation 
had never before called forth such a 
triumphant outburst. 

The oldest burial-ground in Mar- 
blehead is on the summit and slopes of the highest of its rocky eminences. 
Here, also, the settlers raised the frame of their primitive church ; some part 




JAMES LAWRENCE. 



' This fact was established by Geoffrey Crayon (Washington Irving) in one of his philippics 
against Great Britain, of which he so slyly concealed the authorsiiip in the prefiice to his "Sketch 
Book." * " Don't give up the ship." 

IV 



258 



THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 



of whicli, I was tokl, has since been translated into a more secular edifice. At 
the head of a little pond, where a clump of dwarfish willows has become 
rooted, is a slieltered nook, in which are the oldest stones now to be seen. 
This was probably the choice sj^ot of the whole field, but it now wears the 
same air of neglect common to all these old cemeteries. A stone of 1690 
with the name of "Mr. Christopher Latimore, about 70 years," was the oldest 
I discovered. 

As I picked my way among the thick-set head-stones, for there was no path, 
and I always avoid treading on a grave, I came upon a grave-digger busily 
employed, with whom I held a few moments' parley. The man, ali-eady up to 
his waistband in the pit, seemed chiefiy concerned lest he should not be able 
to go much farther before coming to the ledge, which, even in the hollow 
places, you are sure of finding at no great depth. On one side of the grave 
was a heap of yellow mould, smelling of the earth earthy, and on the other 
side a lesser one of human bones, that the spade had once more brought above 
i>round. 




GLIMJPSE OF THE SEAMEN' S MONUMENT AND OLD BURIAL-GKOUND. 



After observing that he should be lucky to get down six feet, the woi'k- 
man told me the grave was destined to receive the remains of an old 
lady of ninety-four, recently deceased, who, as if fearful her rest might be 
less quiet in the midst of a generation to which she did not belong, had 
begged she might be buried here among her old friends and neighbors. Al- 
though interments had long been interdicted in the overcrowded ground, her 
prayer was granted. An examination of the inscriptions confirmed what I 
had heard relative to the longevity of the i:nhabitants of Marblehead, of which 
the scrave-digger also recounted more instances than I am able to remember. 



MARBLEHEAD. ' 259 

I asked him what was done with the bones I saw lying there, adding to 
the heap a fragment or two that liad fallen unnoticed from his spade. 

"Why, you see, I bury them underneath the grave I am digging, before 
the folks get here. We often find such bones on the surface, where they have 
been left after filling up a grave," was his reply. This did not appear sur- 
prising, for those I saw were nearly the color of the earth itself Seeing my 
look directed with a sort of fascination toward these relics of frail mortality, 
the man, evidently misconstruing my thought, took up an arm-bone with play- 
ful familiarity, and observed, " You should have seen the thigh-bone I found 
under the old Episcopal Church ! I could have knocked a man down with 
it easy. These," he said, throwing the bone upon the heap, Avith a gesture of 
contempt, " are mere rotten things." W^ho would be put to bed with that 
man's shovel ! 

On a grassy knoll, on the brow of the hill, is a marble monument erected 
by the jNIarblehead Charitable Seamen's Society, in memory of its members 
deceased on shore and at sea. On one face are the names of those who have 
died on shore, and on the east those lost at sea, from the society's institution 
in 1831 to the year 1848. On the north are the names of sixty-five men and 
boys lost in the memorable gale of September 19th, 1846. This number com- 
prised forty-three heads of families; as many widows, and one hundred and 
fifty-five fiitherless children, were left to mourn the fatality. 

The grave-digger told me that brave Caj^tain Mugford had been buried 
on this hill, but the spot Avas now unknown. I could well believe it, for nev- 
er had I seen so many graves with nothing more than a shapeless boulder at 
the head and foot to mark them. Many stones were broken and defaced, and 
I saw the fragments of one unearthed while standing by. There is no mate- 
rial so durable as the old blue slate, Avhereon yon may often read an inscrip- 
tion cut two hundred years ago, Avhile those on freestone and marble need 
renewing every fifty years. General Glover's tomb here is inscribed: 

Erected with filial respect 

to 

The Memory of 

The Hon. JOHN GLOVER, Esquire, 

Brigadier General in the late Continental Army. 

Died January 30th, 1797, 

Aged 64. 

Many of the old graves were covered with freshly springing " life-everlast- 
ing," beautifully symbolizing the rest of such as sleep in the faith. From the 
Seamen's Monument, at the foot of which some wooden benches are placed, 
is seen a broad horizon, dotted Avith Avhite sails. I never knew a sailor Avho 
did not Avish to be buried as near as possible to the sea, though never in it. 
"Don't throw me overboard. Hardy," Avas Nelson's dying request. There 
are clumps of lone graves on the verge of some headland all over NeAV En- 



260 



THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 




LONE GKAVES. 



glaiul, and one old grave-yard on Stage 
Island, in Maine, has been wholly wash- 
ed away. 

In allusion to the loss of life caused 
by disasters to the fishing fleets fioni 
time to time, an old man with whom 
I talked thought it was not greatei 
than would occur througli the orduia 
ry chances of a life on shore. It is 
wonderful how a sea-faring population 
come to associate the idea of safety 
with the sea. Eartliquakes, confla- 
grations, falling buildings, and like ac- 
cidents are more dreaded than hurri- 
canes, squalls, or a lee-shore. 

By an estimate taken from the Essex Gazette, of January 2d, 1770, it ap- 
pears that in the two preceding years Marblehead lost twenty-three sail of 

\essels, with their 
9\ ciews, number- 
ing one hundred 
and sixty - two 
souls, without tak- 
ing into account 
those who were 
lost from vessels 
on their return. 
There were few 
fimilies that did 
not mourn a rela- 
tne, and some of 
the older inhabit- 
ants remember to 
have heard their 
elders speak of it 
Mith a shudder. 

These are the 
annals that doubt- 
less suggested 
Miss Larcom's 
"Hannah Bind- 
ing Shoes," and the long, lingering, yet fruitless watching for those who nev- 
er come back. The last shake of the hand, the last kiss, and the last flashing 
of the white sail are much like the farewell on the day of battle. 




"sitting, stitching in a mouknful muse. 




THE HOE, ENGLISH PLYMOUTH. 



I 



(:^HAPTER XVII. 

PLYilOUTH. 

"What constitutes a state? 
Not high raised battlements or hibored mound, 
Thick walls or moated gate." 

"pLYMOUTPI is the American Mecca, It does not contain the tomb of 
*- the Prophet, but the Rock of the Forefathers, their traditions, and their 
graves. The first impressions of a stranger are disappointing, for the oldest 
town in New England looks as fresh as if built within the century. There is 
not much that is suggestive of the old life to be seen there. Except the hills, 
the haven, and the sea, there is nothing antique; save a few carefully cher- 
ished relics, nothing that has survived the day of the Pilgrims. 

Somehow monuments— and Plymouth is to be well furnished in the future 
—do not compensate for the absence of living facts. The house of William 
Bradford would have been worth more to me than any of them. Even the 
rusty iron pot and sword of Standish are more satisfying to the common run 
of us than the shaft they are building on Captain's Hill to his memory. They, 



262 



THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 



at least, link us to the personality of the man. And with a sigh that it was 
60 — for I had hoped otherwise — I was obliged to admit that Old Plymouth 

had been rubbed out, 
and that I was too late 
by a century at least to 
realize my ideal. 

The most impressive 
thing about Plymouth 
is its quiet; though I 
would not have the 
reader think it deserted. 
There are workshops 
and factories, but I did 
not suspect their vicin- 
ity. Even the railway 
train slips furtively in 
and out, as if its rum- 
bling inight awaken 
the slumbering old sea- 
port. Although the 
foundation of a com- 
monwealth, the town, 
as we see, has not be- 
come one of the cen- 
tres of traffic. It has 

.X T^ - TT r. -i , TT-n r> X., *i, xi i i rnr n . ShaVcd thc fatC of Sb- 

A, Joauna Davis House — Cole 8 Hill ; B, Plymouth Rock and*Wells s 

Store; C, Uuiversalist Church ; A First Church ; i^, Church of the Pil- lem, in having itS COm- 

grimage; jF*, Post-office— Site of Governor Bradford's House; G, Sam- n^pi.^Jal marroW SUcked 

uel D. Holmes's House — Site of Commou House ; H, Town Square ; /, 

Town-house ; J, Court-house Square. OUt by a inetrojiolis " Op- 

1, Court Street; 2, North Street; 3, Middle Street; 4, Leyden Street; 5, nlent enlar<^ed and Still 

Main Street ; 6, Water Street ; 7, Market Street. . • ,T i • , i 

increasing, leaving the 
first-born of New England nothing but her glorious past, and the old fires 
still burning on her altars. 

Court Street is a pleasant and well-built thoroughfare. It runs along the 
base of three of the hills on whose slopes the town lies, taking at length the 
name of Main, which it exchanges again beyond the tov/n square for Market 
Street. If you follow Court Street northwardly, you will find it merging in 
a country road that will conduct you to Kingston ; if you pursue it with your 
lace to the south, you will in due time arrive at Sandwich. Trees, of which 
there is a varietj% are the glory of Court Street. I saw^ in some streets mag- 
nificent lindens, horse-chestnuts, and elms branching quite across them ; and 
in the areas such early flowering shrubs as forsythia, spiraea, pyrus japonica, 
and lilac. 




PLYMOUTH. 



2G3 



Many houses are old, but there are none left of the originals; nor anv so 
peculiar as to demand description. On some of the most venerable the chim- 
neys are masterpieces of masonry, showing curious designs, or, in some in- 
stances, a stack of angular projections. The chimney of Governor Bradford's 
house is said to have been furnished with a sun-dial. 




PILGRIM HALL. 



Pursuing your way along Court Street, you will first reach Pilgrim Hall, 
a structure of rough granite, in the style of a Greek temple, the prevailing- 
taste in New England fifty years ago for all public and even for jn-ivate 
buildings. Within are collected many souvenirs of the Pilgrims, and of the 
tribes inhabiting the Old Colony. Lying 
in the grass-plot before the hall is a frag- 
ment of Forefathers' Rock, surrounded by 
a circular iron fence, and labeled in figures 
occupying the larger part of its* surface, 
with the date of 1620. In this place it be- 
came nothing but a vulgar stone. I did 
not feel my pulses at all quickened on be- l^^^S^ 
holdins: it. , , 

^ BREWSTER S CHEST, AND STAKDISH S POT. 

One end of the hall is occupied by the 
well-known painting of the "Landing of the Pilgrims," bv Sargent. To height- 
en the effect, the artist has introduced an Lidian in the foreground, an historic 
anachronism. A tall, soldierly figure is designated as Miles Standish, who is 
reported as being short, and scarce manly in appearance. The canvas is of 
large size, and the grouping does not lack merit, but its interest is made to 




264 



THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 



depend on tlie figures of Governor Carver and of Samoset, in the foreground 
— both larger than life. We do not recognize, in the crouching attitude of 
the Indian, the erect and dauntless Samoset portrayed by Mourt, Bradford, 
and Winslovv. This painting, which must have cost the artist great labor, 
was generously presented to the Pilgrim Society. I have seen a painting 
of the "Landing" in which a boat is represented approaching the shore, 
filled with soldiers in red coats.* The late Professor Morse also made it the 
subject of his pencil. 




LANDING OF TUE PILGKIMS, FROM SAKGENT'S PAINTING. 

There are on the walls portraits of Governor Edward Winslow, Governor 
Josiah Winslow and wife, and of General John Winslow, all copies of origi- 
nals in the gallery of the Massachusetts Historical Society. The original of 
Edward Winslow is believed to be a Vandyke. There is also a portrait of 
Hon. John Trumbull, presented by Colonel John, the painter." 



^ In possession of New Enghmd Historic Genealogical Society, Boston. It is by Corne', a ma- 
rine painter of some repute in his clay. 

^ Other portraits are of Dr. James Thacher, by Frotliingliam, and of John Alden, great-grand- 
son of John, of the Mai/floirer, who died at tiie great age of one hundred and two years. He was 
of Middleborough. Dr. Thacher, a sin-geon of the old Continental army, deserves more space than 
I am able to give him. He has embodied a great deal of Revolutionary history, in a very interest- 
ing way, in his "Military Journal," having been present at the principal battles. 



PLYMOUTH. 



26.5 



The cabinets contain many interesting memorials of tlie first settlers, their 
arms, implements, liousehold furniture, and apparel. I refer the reader to the 





CAKVEli S CHAIR. 



BREWSTEll S CUAIK. 




MINCING-KNIFE. 



guide-books for an enumeration of them. Tlie chairs of Governor Carver and 
of Elder Brewster are good specimens of the uncomfortable yet quaint fur- 
nishing of their time; as the capacious iron pots, pewter 
platters, and wooden trenchers are suggestive of a primi- 
tive people, whose town was a camp. I fancy there were 
few breakages among the dishes of these Pilgrims, for they 
were as hard as their owners; nor were there serious de- 
ductions to be made from the maids' wages on the day of 
reckoning. I confess I should have liked to see here, in- 
stead of the somewhat confusing jumble of articles pertaining to Pilgrim or 

Indian, an apartment exclusively de- 
voted to the household economy of 
the first- comers, with furniture suita- 
bly arranged, and the evidences of 
their frugal housewifery garnishing the 
walls. 

Many of the articles said to have 
been brought over in the 3fayJlov:er 
are doubtless authentic, but the num- 
ber of objects still existing and claim- 
ing some part of the immortality of 
that little bark would freight an India- 
man of good tonnage. There is a still pretty sampler, embroidered by the 
spider fingers of a Puritan maiden, with a sentiment Avorth the copying by 
any fair damsel in the land : 




-^■^^^.sm^^^^F 



PEREGRINE WUITE'S CABINET. 



266 



THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 



"Lorea Standish is my name. 
Lord, guide my hart that I may doe thy will ; 
Also fill my hands with such convenient skill 
As may conduce to virtue void of shame; 
And I will give the glory to thy name." 

,And here is tlie carnal weapon of Miles Standish, the living sword-blade 
of the colony. It lacks not much of an English ell fi'oni 
hilt to point, and looks still able to push its way in the 
world if well grasped. The weapon has a brass cross and 
guard, and resembles those trenchant Florentine blatles 
of the sixteenth century, with its channels, curved point, 
and fine temper. The sword figures in Mr. Longfellow's 
"Courtship of Miles Standish," where we may hear it 
clank at the captain's heels as he goes from his wrathful 
interview with John Alden, slamming the door after him, 
no doubt, like the tempestuous little tea-pot he was. The 
inscription on the blade has bafSed the savans. For such 
a hot-tempered cai)tain it should have been that engraved 
on the Earl of Shrewsbury's sword, 

"I am Talbot's, for to slay his foes." 

It could hardly have been this legend, M'ith a point 
inscribed on a broadsword of the seventeenth century : 

" Qm' gladio ferit 
Gladio perit." 




STANDISU'S SWORD. 



Speaking of swords, I am reminded that the first duel 
in New England was at Plymouth, in the year 1621. It 
was between Edward Doty or Doten, and Edward Leister, 
servants of Steven Hopkins. They fought with sword and dagger, like their 
betters, and were both wourided. Having no statute against the offense, the 
Pilgrims met in council to determine on the punishment. It was exemjilary. 
The parties were ordered to be tied together, hand and foot, and to remain 
twenty-four hours without food or drink. The intercession of their master 
and their own entreaties procured tlieir release before the sentence was car- 
]-ied out. 

In the front of the court-house is a mural tablet, with the seal of the Old 
Colony sculptured in relief Tlie quarterings of the shield represent four 
kneeling figures, having each a flaming heart in its hands. On one side of 
the figures is a small tree, indicative, I suppose, of tlie infant growth of the 
plantation. The attitude and semi-nude appearance indicate an Indian, the 
subsequent device of Massachusetts, and are at once significant of his sub- 
jection, hearty welcome, and ultimate loyalty. The colony seal is said to 



PLYMOUTH. 



267 




have been abstracted from the archives in Andros's time, and never recovered.' 
Its legend was "Plimovth Nov-Anglia, Sigillvm Societatis," with the date of 
1C20 above the shield. The union with Mas- 
sachusetts, in 1692, dispensed with the neces- 
sity for a separate seal. 

I saw, in the office of the Register, the 
records of the First Church of Plymouth, 
begun and continued by Nathaniel Moilon 
to 1680. The court records, as well as the 
ancient charter, on which the ink is so 
laded as to be scarcely legible, are careful- 
ly kept. 

But the compact, that august instru- 
ment, I did not see, nor is the fate of the 
original known. Its language bears an ex- the old colost seal. 

traordinary similitude to the preamble of the Constitution of the United 
States, in its spirit and itlea. The name of the king is there in good set 
phrase; but the soul of the thing is its assumption of sovereignty in the 
people. See now how King James figures at the head and the tail of it, and 
tlien look into the heart of the matter: 

"In y^ mime of God, Amen. We whose names are underwritten, the loyall subjects of our 
dread soveraigne Lord, King James, by y* grace of God, of Great Britaine, Franc, & Ireland, King, 
defender of y^ faith, &c., haveing undertaken, for y'^ glorie of God and advancemente of v« Chris- 
tian faith and honour of our king & countrie, a voyage to ]dant y^ first colonic in y^ Northerne 
parts of Virginia, doe by these presents solemnly & mutualy in y^ presence of God, and one of an- 
other, covenant and combine our selves togeather in a civill body politick, for our better ordering 
& jneservation & furtherance of y^ ends aforesaid; and by vertue hearof to enacte, constitute, and 
frame such just & equall lawes, ordinances, acts, constitutions & offices, from time to time, as shall 
be thought most meete & convenent for y^ generall good of y^ Colonic, unto which we promise all 
due submission and obedience. In witnes wherof we have hereunder subscribed our names at 
Cap-Codd y^ 11 of November, in y" year of y^ raigne of our soveraigne lord, King James of En- 
gland, Franc, & Ireland y= eighteenth & of Scotland y^ fiftie fourth. An" : Dora. 1G'20." 

Bradford says the bond was partly due to the mutinous spirit of some of 
the strangers on board the Mayfloioei\ and partly to the belief that such an 
act might be as firm as any patent, and in some respects more sure. It is 
impossible not to be interested in the lives of such men ; they were deeply in 
earnest. 

In 1680 the first public execution took place in Plymouth. The culprit 
was John Billington, who, as Bradford wrote home to England, was a knave, 
and so would live and die. Billington had waylaid and shot one of the town," 
and was adjudged guilty of murder. The colony patent could not confer a 
power it did not itself possess to inflict the death penalty, so they took coun- 



■ Pilgrim Memorial." 



' John Newcomen. 



268 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 

sel of their friends just come into Massachusetts Bay, and were advised to 
" purge the land of blood." 

In 1658, the crime of adultery appears to be first noticed in the laws. 
The punishment of this offense was two whippings, the persons convicted, to 
wear two capital letters "A, D." cut in cloth and sewed on their uppermost 
garment, on their arm or back; if they removed the letters, they were again 
.to be publicly whipped. Another law, that would bear rather hardly on the 
present generation, was as follows: Any persons "who behaved themselves 
profanely by being without doors at the meeting-houses on the Lord's day, 
in time of exercise, and thei'e misdemeaning themselves byjestings, sleepings, 
or the like," were first to be admonished, and if they did not refrain, set in the 
stocks; and if still unreclaimed, cited before the court. 

Josselyn, writing of the old "Body of Laws of 1G4G," says, "Scolds they 
gag and set them at their doors for certain hours, for all comers and goers by 
to gaze at." And here is material for the " Scarlet Letter :" "An English 
woman suffering an Indian to have carnal knowledge of her was obliged to 
wear an Indian cut out of red cloth sewed upon her right arm, and worn 
twelve months." Swearing was punished by boring through the tongue with 
a hot iron; adultery with death. 

The chronicles of the Pilgrims have undergone many strange vicissitudes, 
but are fortunately quite full and complete. It would be pleasant to know 
more of their lives during their first year at Plymouth than is given by Brad- 
ford or Morton. Governor Bradford's manuscript history of Plymouth plan- 
tation was probably purloined form the New England Library deposited in 
the Old South Church of Boston, during the siege of 1115. It found its way 
to the Fulham Library in England, was discovered, and a copy made which 
has since been printed, after remaining in manuscript more than two hundred 
years. The letter-book of Governor Bradford has a similar history. It was 
rescued from a grocer's shop in Halifax, after the destruction of half its in- 
valuable contents. 

The next best thing to be done is probably to go at once to the top of 
Burial Hill, which is here what the Hoe is to English Plymouth. Here, at 
least, are plenty of memorials of the Pilgrims, and here town and harbor are 
outspread for perusal. Seen at full tide, the harbor appears a goodly port 
enough, but it is left as bare by the ebb as if the sea had been commanded 
to remove and become dry land. Nothing except a broad expanse of sand- 
bars and mussel shoals, with luxuriant growth of eel-grass, meets the eye. 
Through these a narrow and devious channel makes its way. The bay, how- 
ever, could not be called tame with two such landmarks as Captain's Hill 
on Duxbury side, and the promontory of Manomet on the shoulder of the 
Cape. 

Plymouth Bay is formed by the jutting-out of Manomet on the south, and 
by the long-attenuated strip of sand known as Duxbury Beach, on the north. 



PLYMOUTH. 



269 



This beach terminates in a 
smaller pattern of the cel- 
ebrated Italian boot that 
looks equally ready to play 
at foot -ball with Sicily or 
to kick intruders out of the 
Mediterranean. The lieel of 
the boot is toward the sea, 
and called The Gurnet ; the 
toe points landward, and is 
called Saquish Head. Just 
within the toe of the boot 
is Clark's Island, named from 
the master's mate of the 
3Iayfloioer' then comes Cap- 
tain's Hill, making, with the 
beach, Duxbury Harbor; 
and in the farthest reach 
of the bay to the westward 
is Kingston, where a little 
water-coui-se, called after the 
master of the Mayflower^ 
makes up into the land. In 
the southern board Cape 
Cod is seen on a clear day 
far out at sea; a mere shining streak of white sand it appears at this distance. 

Plymouth harbor proper is formed by a long sand-spit parallel with the 
shore, that serves as a breakwater for the shallow roadstead. It is anchored 
where it is, for the winds would blow it away else, by Avooden cribs on which 
the drifting sands are mounded ; and it is also tethered by beach-grass root- 
ed in the hillocks or downs that fringe the harbor-side. Now and then ex- 
tensive repairs are necessary to make good the I'avages of a winter's sea-lash- 
ings, as many as six hundred tons of stone having been added to the break- 
water at the Point at one time. Brush is placed in the jetties, and thousands 
of roots of beach-grass ai"e planted to catch and stay the shifting sands. The 
harbor is lighted at evening by twin lights on the Gurnet, and by a single 
one off Plymouth Beach. The latter is a caisson of iron rooted to the rock 
by a filling of concrete, and is washed on all sides by the waters of the harbor. 

Sand is everywhere; the "stern and rock-bound coast" of Mrs. Hemans 
nowhere. Except one little cluster by the northern shore of the harbor, the 
Forefathers' is the oidy rock on which those pious men could have landed 




MAP OF PLYMOUTH BAT. 



' Jones's River. 



270 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 

with dry feet. A few boulders, noticeably infrequent, are scattei'ed along the 
beach as you approach from Kingston. The hills on which the town is built 
appear lean and emaciated, as if the light yellow earth with which they are 
furnished were a compromise between sand and soil. The gardens and house- 
plots, nevertheless, thrive if they have moisture enough. Few vessels were 
lying in the harbor, for Plymouth has at present little or no commerce ; yet 
of these, two small colliers were larger than the little Mayflower that car- 
ried a greater than Coesar and his fortunes.^ 

The Pilgrims brought the name of their settlement along with them, 
though Captain John Smith gives it first the Indian name of Accomack, 
changed by Prince Charles to Plimouth, as it appears on the map accom- 
panying "Advertisements for the Unexperienced." The port was, however, 
earlier known to both French and English. Samoset told the Pilgrims, at 
his first interview with them, the Indian name was Patuxet.'^ Prince, in- 
deed, assigns a date (December 31st) for the formal assumption of the En- 
glish name.^ 

Plymouth, England, from which the Pilgrims finally set sail on the 6th of 
September, 1619, is situated at the extreme north-west corner of Devonshire, 
and is divided from Cornwall only by the river Tamar. The name has no 
other significance than the mouth of the river Plym. Exmouth and Dart- 
mouth have the like derivation. Pl3nnouth was long the residence of Sir 
Francis Drake, and was the birthplace of Sir John Hawkins; also of the paint- 
ers Northcote, Prout, and B. Haydon. Captain John Davis, the intrepid nav- 
igator, and Sir Humphrey Gilbert, who. Queen Elizabeth said, was a " man of 
noe good happ by sea," were also of Devonshire. It is of the two rivers upon 
which the " Three Towns " stand that old Michael Drayton writes : 

"Plym that claims bv right 
The christening of that Bay, which bears her noble name." 

In spite of historic antecedents, English Plymouth was distasteful to Lord 
Nelson, who says, in one of his letters to Lady Hamilton, "I hate Plymouth." 
American Plymouth should owe no grudge to his memory, for he did a very 
noble act to one of her townsmen. While cruising on our coast in the Albe- 
marle, in 1782, Nelson captured a fishing schooner belonging to Plymouth, 
The cargo of the vessel constituted nearly the whole property of Captain 
Carver, the master, who had a large family at home anxiously awaiting his 
return. There being no ofiicer on board the Albemarle acquainted with Boston 
Bay, Nelson ordered the master of the prize to act as pilot. He performed 
the service to the satisfaction of his captor, who requited him by giving him 
his vessel and cargo back again, with a certificate to prevent I'ecapture by 

' The Mayflower was only one hundred and eighty tons burden. ' Mourt. 

' I do not fiml any exact authority for this. 



PLYMOUTH. 



271 



Other British cruisers. Sir N. Harris Nicolas relates tliat Nelson accompanied 
this generous act with words equally generous: "You have rendered me, 
sir, a very essential service, and it is not the custom of English seamen to be 
ungrateful. In the name, therefore, and with the approbation of the officers 
of this ship, I return your schooner, and with it this certificate of your o-ood 
conduct.^ Farewell ! and may God bless you." 

The choice of the site of Plymouth by the Pilgrims was due rather to the 
pressing necessities of their situation than to a well-considered determination. 
Arriving on our coast in the beginning of winter, after nearly six weeks passed 
in explorations that enfeebled the hardiest among them, they found their pro- 
visions failing, while the increasing rigor of the season called for a speedv 
decision. As it was not their destination, so it may readily be conceived they 
were not prepared beforehand with such knowledge of the coast as mi^ht 
now be most serviceable to them. Cheated by their captain, they had thrown 
away the valuable time spent in searching the barren cape for a harbor fit 
for settlement. Smith, in his egotism, administers a rebuke to them in this 
wise : 

" Yet at the first landing at CaiJe Cod^ being an hundred passengers, be- 
sides twenty they had left behind at PUrnoxith for want of good take heed, 
thinking to find all things better than I advised them, spent six or seven weeks 
in wandering up and downe in frost and snow, Avind and raine, anions the 
v.'oods, cricks, and swamps, forty of them died, and three-score were left in a 
most miserable estate at New Plimouth, where their ship left them, and but 
nine leagues by sea from where they landed, -whose misery and variable opin- 
ions, for want of experience, occasioned much faction, till necessity agreed 
them." 

It is not easily understood why they should have remained in so unprom- 
ising a location after a better knowledge of the country had been obtained. 
To the north was Massachusetts, called by Smith " the paradise of those 
parts." South-west of them was the fertile Narraganset country, with fair 
Aquidneck within their patent. In thirteen or fourteen years the whole of 
Plymouth colony would not have made one populous town. But there are 
indications that a removal was kept in view. Their brethren in Leyden, 
who saw the hand of God in their first choice, advised them not to abandon 
it. In 1633 they established a trading-house on the Connecticut, and when 
afterward dispossessed b}'^ Massachusetts, alleged as a reason for holding a 
post there that "they lived upon a barren place, where they were by necessi- 
ty cast, and neither they nor theirs could long continue upon the same, and 
why should they be deprived of that which they had provided and intended 

' "This is to certify that I took the schooner Harmony, Nathaniel Carver, master, belonging to 

Plymouth, but, on account of his good services, have given him up his vessel again. 

"Horatio Nelsox. 
" Dated on board H. M. ship Mhemarle, 17th An^ust, 17S2." 



272 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 

to remove to as soon as they were able?'" Yet, like fatalists they continued 
on tlie very shores to which Providence had directed them. 

When the Pilgiims explored the bay, they were at first undetermined 
whether to make choice of Clark's Island, the shores of the little river at 
Kingston, or the spot on the main-land which became their ultimate abode. 
The high ground of Plymouth shore, the "sweete brooke" under the hill-side, 
and the large tract of land ready cleared for their use, settled the question ; 
the high hill from which they might see Cape Cod, and withal very tit for a 
citadel, clenched their decision. 

It did not seem to occur to the Pilgrims that to pitch their residence in a 
place desolated by the visitation of God was at all ill-omened. In their cir- 
cuit of the bay they did not see an Indian or an Indian wigwam, though they 
met with traces of a former habitation. Added to the sadness and gloom of 
the landscape, the frozen earth, the bare and leafless trees, was a silence not 
alone of nature, but of death. The plague had cleared the way for them ; 
they built upon graves. 

This- terrible forerunner of the English is alluded to by several of the old 
writers. It swept the coast from the Fresh Water River to the Penobscot, 
with a destructiveness like to that witnessed in Loudon a few years later. 
Sir F. Gorges tells us that the Indians inhabiting the region round about the 
embouchure of the Saco were sorely afilicted with it, "so that tlje country was 
in a manner left void of inhabitants." Vines, Sir Ferdinando's agent, with his 
companions, slept in the cabins with those that died ; but, to their good for- 
tune, as the narrative quaintly sets forth, "not one of them ever felt their 
heads to ache while they stayed there." This was in the year 1616-'17. 
Levett says the Indians at "Aquamenticus" were all dead when he was there. 
Samoset explains, in his broken English, to the Pilgrims that the lawful occu- 
pants of Patuxet had, four years before, been swept away by an exti-aoi'di- 
nary plague. The Indians had never seen or heard of the disease before. 
Villages withered away when the blight fell ujion them ; tribes were obliter- 
ated, and nations were reduced to tribes. Doubtless, this disaster had much 
to do with the peaceable settlement of Plymouth, Salem, and Boston. Had 
the Pilgrims been everywhere resisted, as at Nauset, they could hardly have 
planted their colony in Plymouth Bay. 

There was another cause to which the English owed their safety, as related 
to them by many aged Indians. A French ship had been cast away on Cape 
Cod. The crew succeeded in landing, but the Indians, less merciful than the 
sea, butchered all but three of them. Two were ransomed by Dernier, one 
of Sir F. Gorges's captains. The other remained with the savages, acquired 
their language, and died among them. Before his death he foretold that God 
was angry, and would destroy them, and give their heritage to a strange peo- 

* Governor Bradford's "History of Plymouth." 



PLYMOUTH. 273 

pie. They derided liim, and answered boastfully, they were so strong and nu- 
merous that the Manitou could not kill them all. Soon after the pestilence de- 
populated the country. Then came the Englishmen in their ships. The sav- 
ages assembled in a dark swamp, where their conjurors, with incantations last- 
ing several days, solemnly cursed the pale-faces, devoting them to desti'uction. 
Thus the English found safety in the superstitious awe of the natives. The 
story of the terrible plague is as yet unwritten. Governor Bradford says 
that when Winslow went to confer with Massasoit, he passed by numbers of 
unburied skulls and bones of those who had died. 

Captain Levett is corroborative of the Pilgrims' settled intention to de- 
part from their original place of settlement. He observes in his "Voyage 
into New England :" " Neither was I at New Plymouth, but I fear that place 
is not so good as many others ; for if it were, in my conceit, they would con- 
tent themselves with it, and not seek for any other, having ten times so much 
ground as would serve ten times so many people as they have now among 
them. But it seems they have no fish to make benefit of; for this year they 
had one ship 'fish at Pemaquid, and another at Cape Ann, where they have be- 
gun a new plantation, but how long it will continue I know not." 

It is evident from the testimony that the settlement at Plymouth was ill- 
considered, and that the Pilgrims were themselves far from satisfied with it. 
In this, too, we have the solution of the rapid overshadowing of the Old Col- 
ony by its neighbors, and the fading away of its political and commei-cial im- 
portance. 

There is no manner of doubt that Plymouth had been visited by whites 
long before the advent of the Mayfower^s band. Hutchinson erroneously 
says De Monts "did not go into the Massachusetts bay, but struck over from 
some part of the eastern shore to Cape Ann, and so to Cape Cod, and sailed 
farther southward." Definite is this! 

It was the object of De Monts to examine the coast, and his pilot seems 
to have kept in with it as closely as possible, making a harbor every nio-ht 
where one was to be found. The Indian pilot proved to have little knowl- 
edge of the shores or of the language of the tribes to the westward of the 
Saco; for on being confronted with the natives of the Massachusetts country, 
he was not able to understand them. Gorges recounts that his natives from 
Pemaquid and from Martha's Vineyard at first hardly comprehended each 
other. 

Hutchinson, it is probable, saw the edition of "Charaplain's Voyages" of 
1632, contenting himself Avith a cursory examination of it. An attentive 
reading of the text of the edition of 1613 would have undeceived him as to 
the movements of De Monts. Although the reprint of 1632 gives the sub- 
stance of the voyage, it is so mutilated in its details as to aflJbrd scanty satis- 
faction to the student. 

After leaving Cape Ann, De Monts entered Boston Bay and saw Charles 

18 



274 



THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 



Rivev, named by his company " Riviere da Gas," in compliment to their chief. 
From thence they continued their route to a place that has for the moment a 
greater interest. Given the latitude, the physical features, and the distance 
from Cape Ann, we are at no loss to put the finger on Plymouth Bay, of 
which the geographer of the expedition is the first to give us a description. 

The wind coming contrary, they dropped anchor in a little roadstead.' 
While lying there they were boarded by canoes that had been out fishing for 
cod. These, going to shore, notified their companions, who assembled on the 
sands, dancing and gesticulating in token of amity and welcome. A canoe 
from the bark landed with a few trifles with Avhich the simple natives were 
well pleased, and begged their strange visitors to come and visit them with- 
in their river. The man-stealers had not yet been among them. They ofler- 
ed a simple but sincere hospitality. 




CHAMPLAIN'S map. — PORT CAPE ST. LOUIS. 

Let us have recourse to the musty pages and antiquated French of Cham- 
plain, following in the wake of the bark as it weathers the Gurnet, and dou- 
bles Saquish, with the cheery cry of tlie leadsman, and the eyes of De Monts, 
Champlain, and Champdore fixed on the shores of coming renown: 

" Nous levames I'ancre pour ce faire, mais nous n'y peusmes entrer a cause du peu cFeau que 
nous y trouvames estans de basse mer et fumes contrainctes de mouiller I'ancre a I'entree 
d'icelle. Je decendis a terre ou j'eu vis quantite d'autres qui nous receurent fort gratieusement : 
et fus recognoistre la riviere, ou n'y a vey autre chose qu'un bras d'eau qui s'estant quelque peu 



' Green's Harbor, perhaps. 



PLYMOUTH. 275 

dans les terres qui font en partie desertees : dedans lequel il n'y a qu'un ruisseau qui ne pent 
porter basteaux sinon de pleine mer. Ce lieu peut avoir une lieue de circuit. En I'une des en- 
trees duquel y a une maniere d'icelle couverte de bois et principalement de pins qui tient d'un 
caste a des dunes de sable, qui font assez longues : I'autre coste est une terre assez haute. II y 
a deux islets dans lad. Baye, qu'on ne voit point si Ton n'est dedans, oil autour la mer asseche 
presque toute de basse mer. Ce lieu est fort remarquable de la mer ; d'autant que la coste est 
fort basse, hormis le cap de I'entree de la Baye qu'avons nomme le port du tap St. Louys distant 
dud. cap deux lieues et dix du Cap aux Isles. II est environ par le hauteur du Cap St. Louys." 

TRANSLATION. ' 

We raised the anchor to do this, but we could not enter therein by reason of tlie little water 
which we found there, being low sea, and were constrained to let go the anchor at tiie entrance of 
it. I went asliore, where I saw numbers of natives who received us very graciously, and surveyed 
the river, which is nothing more than an arm of water that makes a little way in the lands which 
are' in part deserted, within which it is only a rivulet that can not float vessels except at full sea. 
This place may be a league in circuit. At one of the entrances is a sort of island, which is covered 
with wood, principally pines, which holds to a coast of sandy downs of some length ; the other 
shore is pi-etty high land. There are two isles in the said Bay which are not perceived until you 
are within, which the sea leaves almost entirely at low tide. This place is very remarkable from 
the sea, inasmuch as the coast is very low, except the cape at the entrance of the Bay, which we 
have named Port Cape St. Louis, distant from the said Cape two leagues, and ten from the Cape 
of Islands. It is about the latitude of Cape St. Louis."'' 

In tliis description the Gurnet and Manomet stand out for easy recogni- 
tion. The sandy downs of Duxbury Beacli, the shallow harbor, the river, 
even the soundings establish the identity of Port St. Louis with I^lymouth; 
and the two islands become further evidence, if more were needed. 

To account for the hostility of the Indians inhabiting the Cape when the 
•Pilgrims were reconnoitring there, it is only necessary to cite a few facts. 
Cabot stole three savages and carried them to England, where, says Stow, 
in ludicrous astonishment, after two years' residence they could not be told 
from Englishmen. In 1508, it is said, Thomas Aubert, a pilot of Dieppe, ex- 
cited great curiosity by bringing over several natives to France. Cartier 
took two back with him to France, but with their own consent; and they 
were eventually, I believe, restored to their native country. Weymouth, in 
1605, seized live at Pemaquid ; Harlow, in 1611, five moi-e; and Hunt, the 
greatest thief of them all, kidnaped in this very harbor of Plymouth, in the 
year 1614, twenty-four of those silly savages, and sold them in Spain for reals 
of eight. After such treachery it is not strange the red men looked on these 
new-comers as their natural enemies. It is more extraordinary that Samoset, 
on entering their weak village some months after their landing, should have 
greeted them Avith the memorable " Welcome, Englishmen !" 

'. The Pilgrims saw in the evidences of prior intercourse with Europeans, that 
they were not the pioneers in this wilderness of New England. They foiuul 

' Followed as literally as possible, to preserve the style. 
" Named by De IMonts, and supposed to be Brant Point. 



2 76 THE NEW EXGLx'lND COAST. 

implements and utensils of civilized manufacture, thougli no fire-arras. These 
articles were probably obtained by barter with the fishing or trading ships. 

On William Wood's map of 1634/ Old Plymouth is laid down on the 
eastern shore of Narraganset Bay, while New Plymouth has its proper posi- 
tion. "New Plimouth" is placed on Blauw's map at the head of a small 
bay, into which a large river flows. One of the headlands of the bay is 
named C. Blanco Gallis, and the bay itself Crane Bay. Josselyn has also 
this reference to Old Plymouth : 

"At the farther end of the bay, by the mouth of Narraganset River, 
on the south side thereof was Old Plymouth plantation, Anno 1602." He 
may have borrowed his itinerary in part from Wood, who, as I take it, re- 
ferred to Gosnold's attempt at the mouth of Buzzard's Bay. In his sum- 
mary, under date of 1607, Josselyn notes, " Plimouth plantation in New En- 
gland attempted." 

I spent some hours among the grave-stones on Burial Hill. Here, as in 
the streets of the living inhabitants, the old familiar names of the Mayflow- 
er''s passengers are to be met with. And in every burial-place in the land, 
I make no doubt, are to be found Howlands and Winslows, Bradfords and 
Brewsters, side by side. I have felt myself much moved in thinking on the 
story of those stern men and self-contained, trustful women. Their whole 
lives might justly be called a pilgrimage. Consider their gathqring in the 
Old England they loved so well; then their dispersion, suffering, and hurried 
flight into Holland ; afterward the staking their all on the issue of their ven- 
ture in the New W^orld, and the painful, anxious lives they led ; despoiling 
the young of their youth, and the elders of a peaceful old age. 

This spot, as is well known, was not the Pilgrims' original place of inter- 
ment. They who first died were buried on Cole's Hill, nearer the shore, and 
to the strait limits of their little hamlet. They lost one half their number 
during the first dismal winter, and there was room enough without going far 
to make their graves. Tradition says that, fearing their wretchedness might 
inspire the Indians with the hope of exterminating them, those early graves 
were first leveled and then planted uj)on in order to conceal their losses. It 
is said that sixty years elapsed before a grave-stone with an inscription was 
set up in Plymouth ; certain it is that none older has been found than that 
of Edward Gray, merchant, who died in 1681. 

The obliterated grave-yard on Cole's Hill, Avhich was nothing more than a 
sea-bluft' overhanging the shore, was flooded by a fi-eshet about 1735, laying 
bare many of the graves, and carrying along with it to the sea many of the 
remains. It is the supposed resting-place of Carver, the first governor of 
Plymouth, and of his wife, who did not long survive him. It contained the 
ashes of fifty of the one hundred and two that had landed in December. In 

^ "The south part of New England, as it is planted this yeare, 1634." 



) 



PLYMOUTH. 277 

the time of the first winter's sickness, says Hutchinson, there were not above 
seven men capable of bearing arms. And yet, wlien they were almost too 
few to bury their own dead, they talked of war with Canonicus as if it Avere 
mere bagatelle, answering defiance with defiance. I fancy those Pilgrims 
were of the right stuff"! 

On Burial Hill is a monument to the memory of Governor Bradford, who 
succeeded Carver, and was annually chosen from 1621 until his death, in 1657^ 
— except during the years 1633, 1636, 1638, and 1644, when Edward Winslow, 
and in 1634, Avhen Thomas Preiice, administered the colony affiiirs. In sev- 
enty years there were only six different persons governors of Plymouth. 
Roger White, the friend of Bradford, writes him a letter from Leyden, Decem- 
ber, 1625, counseling rotation in office, more than hinting that the constant 
re-election of himself to the chief office in the colony tended to an oligarchy.' 
Bradford was among the earliestto go into Holland for conscience' sake. He 
was of good estate, and had learned the art of silk-dyeing in Amsterdam. 
His residence in the New World began in affliction, for, before a site for set- 
tlement had been fixed upon, his wife, Dorothy May, fell from the vessel into 
the sea and was drowned. His monument was erected, some years ago, by 
descendants. 

In a conspicuous position is the monument raised, in 1858, by the descend- 
ants of Robert Cushman, and of Thomas Cushman, his son, for forty-three 
years ruling elder of the church of the Pilgrims. Of all the original memo- 
rial tablets in this old cemeterj'^, those of Thomas Cushman, who came in 1621, 
in the Fortune, and of Thomas Clark, a passenger by the Ann, in 1623, alone 
were remaining. The grave of John Howland, an emigrant of the 3Iayfloioer, 
has been identified, and furnished with a handsome head-stone. In some in- 
stances boards bearing simply the name and age of the deceased have re- 
placed the aged and no longer legible stones, as in the cases of Elder Thomas 
Faunce, William Crowe, and others. The stone of Thomas Clark was the 
most curious I saw, and in general the inscriptions do not possess other in- 
terest than the recollections they summon up. The grave of Dr. Adoniram 
Judson is also here. 

Burial Plill is also memorable as the site of the second' regular church ed- 
ifice in New England, built to serve the double pui-pose of church and citadel. 
From this cause the eminence was long called Fort Hill. By February, 1621, 
after the defiance of Canonicus, the town was inclosed within a palisade, tak- 
ing in the top of the hill under which it was situated. In 1622 the colonists 
built their church-fortress; it should have been dedicated with Luther's an- 
them : 



' "Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society." 

* See Popham's settlement on the Kennebec ; the Episcopal senice was doubtless the first 
religious exercise in New England. 



278 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 

"God is a castle and defense, 

When troubles and distress invade, 
He'll help and free us from offense, 
And ever shield us with his aid." 

Ever willing to turn an honest penny, the Dutch, in 1627, opened a corre- 
spondence between Fort Amsterdam and Plymouth, Avith otters of trade. 
•They followed it with an embassy in the person of Isaac de Kasieres, who, 
says Bradford, was their chief merchant, and second to tlieir governor. He 
came into Plymouth " honorably attended with a noise of trumpeters." It 
is in a letter of De Rasieres, found at Tlie Hague by Mr. Brodhead, that we 
obtain a circumstantial account of town and fortress as they then existed. 

"Upon the hill," he writes, "they have a large, square house, with a flat 
roof, made of thick sawn planks, stayed with oak beams, upon the top of 
which they have six cannons, which shoot iron balls of four and five pounds, 
and command the surrounding country. Tlie lower part they use for their 
church, where they preach on Sundays and the usual holidays."' 

A looker-on here in 1807 found in this bui-ying-ground and on the summit 
of the hill the remains of the ditch that surrounded the ancient fortification 
erected in 1675, on the approach of Philip's war. This was a work of great- 
er magnitude than that of the first adventurers, inclosing a space one bundled 
feet square, strongly palisaded with pickets ten and a half feet high. As late 
as 1844 the whole circuit of this work was distinctly visible.^ The head of 
Wittuwamet, one of the chiefs killed by Standish's party at Weymouth in 
1623, was set up on the battlements of the fort, as was afterwai-d that of the 
renowned King Philip. The vaunting, the exasperating mockery of a savage, 
is in these lines : 

"'Who is there here to fight with the brave Wattawamat ?' 
Then he unsheathed his knife, and, whetting the blade on his left hand, 
Held it aloft and displayed a woman's face on the handle, 
Saying, with bitter expression and look of sinister meaning, 
'I have another at home, with the face of a man on the linndle; 
By-and-by they shall marry; and there will be plenty of children.'" 

According to Edward Winslow, the English stood to their guns when 
Indians came among them. To allay distrust in the minds of the savages, 
they were told it was an act of courtesy observed by the English, both on 

' Captain John Smith, speaking of the town in 1624, says of tiiis fortress, there was "witliin a 
high mount a fort, with a watch-tower, well built of stone, lome, and wood, their ordnance well 
mounted." 

^ During some excavations made on the hill, remains of the watch-tower of brick came to 
light, indicating its position to have been in the vicinity of the Judson monument. Tliere also 
existed on the hill, imtil about 18G0, a powder-house of antique fashion, built in 1770. It had an 
oval slab of slate imbedded in the wall, with a Latin inscription ; and there were also engraved 
upon it a powder-horn, cartridge, and a cannon. — "Pilgrim Memorial." 



PLYMOUTH. 279 

land and sea. The sentinel who paced his lonely round here in 1622 should 
have had steady nerves. The nearest outpost was his fellow-watcher on the 
ramparts of Fort Amsterdam. He could hardly pass the word on "All's 
well !" to Jamestown or Saint Augustine, or hear the clialleno-e from Port 
Royal, in Acadia. Behind him was the wilderness, out of which it was a 
Avonder the Indians did not burst, it was so easy to overwlielm tlie devoted 
little band of Englishmen and brush them away into the sea. I make no ac- 
count of the few scattered cabins along the northern coast, and the Pilgrims 
made no account of them. Tlius they lived for ten years within the narrow 
limits of an intrenched camp, a picket lodged within an enemy's country, un- 
til the settlement in Massachusetts Bay enabled them to draw breatli. Why 
might they not say to those after-comers, 

"We are the Jasons ; we have won the fleece?" 

The procession of the Pilgrims to their church was a sight that must have 
exceedingly stirred the sluggish blood of the Dutch emissary. He found 
them attentive to proiFers of trade ; acute, as might be expected of the first 
Yankees, where profits were in question ; but there was no doubt about the 
quality of their piety. At the hour of worship the silent village was assembled 
by drum-beat, as was befitting in the Church Militant. At this signal the 
house-doors open and give passage to each family. Tlie men wear their sad- 
colored mantles, and are armed to the teeth, as if going to battle. Silently 
they take their places in front of the captain's door, three abreast, with match- 
locks sliouldered. The tall, stern-visaged ones, we may suppose, lead the rest. 
In front is the sergeant. Behind the armed men conies Bradford, in a long 
robe. At his right hand is Elder Brewster, with his cloak on. At the gov- 
ernor's left marches Miles Standish, his rapier lifting up the corner of his 
mantle, and carrying a small cane in his hand. The women in sober gowns, 
kerchiefs, and hoods, their garments poor, but scrupulously neat, follow next; 
the lowlier yielding precedence to those of better condition. At command, 
they take their way up the hill in this order, and, entering within the rude 
temple they have raised, each man sets down his musket whei'e he may lay 
hand upon it. "Thus," says De Rasieres, " they are on their guard night 
and day." 

Thomas Lechford, " of Clement's Inn, Gent," in his "Plain Dealing," says 
he once looked in the church-door in Boston -where the sacrament was being 
administered. He thus noted down what he saw: " Th-ey come together 
about nine o'clock by ringing of a bell. Pastor prayed for a quarter of an 
iiour. The teacher then readeth and expoundeth a cha]»ter; then a psalm is 
sung, which one of the ruling Elders dictates. Afterward tlie pastor preaches 
a sermon, or exhorts ex tempore.'''' 

This is the way in which they made contributions: "On Sundays, in the 
afternoon, when the sermon is ended, the people in the galleries come down 



.280 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 

and march two abreast up one aisle and down the other, until they come be- 
fore the desk, for pulpit they have none. Before the desk is a long pue where 
tlie elders and deacons sit, one of them with a money-box in his hand, into 
which the people, as tliey pass, put their oiFering, some a shill, some 2s., some 
half a crown, five s., according to their ability. Then they conclude with a 
prayer." 

Lechford adds that the congregation used to pass up by the deacon's seat, 
giving either money, or valuable articles, or paper promises to pay, and so to 
their seats again, the chief men or magistrates first. The same author de- 
scribes the method of excommunication practiced in some of the New- En- 
gland churches. "At New Hkven, alias Quinapeag," he says, " where Master 
Davenport is pastor, the excommunicate is held out of the meeting, at the 
doore, if he will heare, in frost, snow, and raine." 

The Pilgrims are often called Puritans, a term of reproach fii'st applied to 
the whole body of Dissenters, but in their day belonging strictly to those who 
renounced the forms and ceremonies while believing in the doctrines and sac- 
raments of the Church of England. Boston was settled by Puritans, who, ac- 
cording to Governor Winthrop, adhered to the mother-church when they left 
Old England. It is curious to observe that the Boston Puritans became rig- 
id Separatists, while the Plymouth Separatists became more and more mod- 
erate. The Pilgrims were originally of the sect called Brownists, from Rob- 
ert Brown, a school-master in Southwark about 1580, and a relation of Cecil, 
Lord Burghley.^ Cardinal Bentivoglio erroneously calls the Holland refu- 
gees a distinct sect by the name of Puritans, Hutchinson, usually well in- 
formed, observes, "If all in England who called themselves Brownists and In- 
dependents at that day had come over with them (the Pilgrims), they would 
scarcely have made one considerable town." Yet in 1592 there were said to 
be twenty thousand Independents in England. 

The Church of the Pilgi-ims, formed, in 1G02, of people living on the bor- 
ders of Nottinghamshire, Lincolnshire, and Yorkshire, made their way, after 
innumerable difficulties, into Holland. Their pastor, John Robinson, is usu- 
ally regarded as the author of Independency. A residence on the scene of 
the Refoi-mation softened, in many respects, the inflexible religious character 
of the Brownists. They discarded the name rendered odious on many ac- 
counts. It is stated, on the authority of Edward Winslow, that Robinson and 
his Church did not require renunciation of the Church of England, acknowl- 
edging the other reformed churches, and allowing occasional communion with 



' Robert Brown, the founder of the sect, after thirty-two imprisonments, eventually conformed.' 
Henry Penay, Henry Barrow, and otlier Brownists, were cruelly executed for alleged sedition, May 
29th, 1593. Elizabeth's celebrated Act of 1593 visited a refusal to make a declaration of conform- 
ity with the Church of England with banishment and forfeiture of citizenship ; death if the offender 
returned into the realm. 



PLYMOUTH. 281 

them. It is also evident from what Bradford says that the Pilgrims chose 
the Huguenots as their models in Church affairs.' 

Both in regard to civil and ecclesiastical affairs tlie Pilgrims were placed 
in a situation of serious difficulty. Tlie King of England promised not to in- 
terfere with them in religious matters, but would not acknowledge them by 
any public act under his hand and seal. Some of the most influential of the 
company of English merchants, by whom they were transported to Xew En- 
gland, did not sympathize with them in their religious views, and at length 
broke off from them, and left them to struggle on alone as best they might. 
This is apparent in the plan to prevent the remnant of the Church of Leyden 
from coming over. It is also clear that neither the motives nor the intentions 
of the Pilgrims were well understood by the adventurers at the outset, and 
that as soon as these were fully developc^fl, the merchants, or a majority of 
them, preferred to augment their colonj^ with a more pliant and less obnox- 
ious class of emigrants than the first-comers had proved. In examining the 
charges and complaints of the one, and the explanations of the other, it is 
difficult to avoid the conclusion that a good deal of duplicity was used by 
the Pilgrims to keep the breath of life in their infant plantation. 

It appears that the settlers in Massachusetts Bay were not acquainted with 
the form of worship practiced by the Pilgrims, as Endicott writes to Governor 
Bradford from "Xaumkeak, May 11th, 1629: I acknowledge myself much 
bound to you for your kind love and care in sending Mr. Fuller among us, 
and rejoice much that I am by him satisfied touching your judgments of the 
outward form of God's worship; it is (as far as I can yet gather) no other 
than is warranted by the evidence of truth, and the same which I have pro- 
fessed and maintained ever since the Lord in his mercy revealed himself unto 
me, being far differing from the common reports that hath been spread of 
you touching that particular."^ 

I have thought it worth mentioning that the church at Salem was the 
first completely organized Congregational church in America. It was gath- 
ered August 6th, 1629, when Rev. Mr. Higginson was ordained teacher, and 
Mr. Skelton pastor.^ Governor Bradford and others deputed from the church 
at Plymouth, coming into the assembly in the hour of the solemnity, gave 
them the right hand of fellowship, Robinson never having come over, Plym- 
outh was without a pastor for some years. 

* Sir Matthew Hale used to say, "Those of the Separation were good men, but thej' had nar- 
row souls, or they would not break the peace of the Church about such inconsiderable matters as 
the points of difference were." In this country the Independents took the name of Congregation- 
alists. They held, among other tilings, that one church may advise or reprove another, but had 
no power to excommunicate. The churches outside of Plymouth did, however, practice excommu- 
nication. 

"^ Governor Bradford's Letter-book. 

'•' The teacher explained doctrines; the pastor enforced them by suitable exhortations. 



282 



THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 



Under Charles I. the Pilgrims fared little better than in the preceding reign ; 
but they had seated themselves firmly by the period of the Civil War. On 
the day before his arrival at Shrewsbury, the king caused the military orders 
to be read at the head of each regiment. Then, mounting his horse, and 
placing himself in the midst, where all might hear, he made a speech to his 
soldiers, in which this passage occurs : 

" Gentlemen, you have heard these orders read ; it is yonr part, in your 

severall places, to observe them exactly I can not suspect your Courage 

and Resolution ; your Conscience and your Loyalty hath brought you hither 
to fight for your Religion, your King, and the Laws of the Land ; you shall 
fight with no Enemies, but Traitours, most of them Brownists, Anabaptists, 
and Atheists, such who desire to destroy both Church and State, and who 
have already condemned you to ruin for being Loyall to vs." 

Here, then, Avere a handful of men repudiated by their king, cast off by their 
commercial partners, a prey to the consequences of civil war at home, and liv- 
ing by sufferance in the midst of a fierce and warlike people, compelled at last 
to work out their own political destin}^ What wonder that with them self- 
preservation stood first, last, and always ! All other settlements in New En- 
gland were made with the hope of gain alone, few, if any, colonists meaning 
to make a permanent home in its wilds. We may not withhold the respect 
due to these Pilgrims, who were essentially a unit, embodying the germ of 
civil, political, and religious liberty. They beheld from the beach the vanish- 
ing sail of the Ma[ijiov:er as men Avho had accepted what fate may bring to 
them. They did not mean to go back. 





THE PILGKIMS' FIHST ENCOUNTER. 



CHAPTER XYIIL 



I 



PLYMOUTH, CLARK S ISLAND, AND DUXBURY. 

"Ay, call it holy ground, 

The soil where first they trod ! 
They have left unstain'd what there they found — 
Freedom to worship God!" — Mrs. Hemans. 

T ET lis now take u walk in Leydcn Street. Until 1802 the principal street 
-'^ of the Pilgrims was withont a name; it was then proposed to give it 
the one it now so appropriately bears. In my descent of the hill into the 
town sqnare, I passed nnder the shade of some magnificent elms just putting 
forth their spring buds. Some of those natural enemies of trees were talking 
of cutting down the noblest of them all, that has stood for neai'ly a hundred 
years, and long shaded Governor Bradford's house.* 

Consulting again our old guide, De Rasieres, I find ho tells ns, "New 
Plymouth lies on the slope of a hill stretching east, toward the sea-coast. 



' These trees are said to have been planted in 1783, by Thomas Davis. 



284 



THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 




BUILDINO ON TUE SITE OF 15KAUFOKD S MANSION. 



■Avith ji broad street about a cannon-shot of eight hundred [yards] long lead- 
ing down the hill; with a street crossing in the middle northward to the riv- 
ulet and southward 
.is^^^^^Wg^^Pg- -^ir-s"aw?o?^S=3i """^-_ to the land. The 

houses are con- 
structed of hewn 
planks, with gar- 
dens, also inclosed 
behind and at the 
sides with hewn 
plaidvs ; so that 
their houses and 
court-yards are ar- 
ranged in very 
good order, with a 
stockade against a 
sudden attack ; and 
at the ends of the 
streets there are 
three wooden gates. 
In the centre, on the cross-street, stands the governor's house, before which 
is a square inclosure, upon which four pateros [steenstucken] are mounted, so 
as to flank along the streets." We are standing, then, in the ancient place of 
arms of the Pilgrims. 

Nearest to us, on the north side of the square, is the site of Governor Brad- 
ford's house, w^ith the Church of the Pilgrimage just beyond. The dwelling 
of the governor was long ago removed to the north part of the town, and 
this, its successor, does not fulfill our want, as the veritable habitation of the 
much-honored magistrate would do. Nearly opposite is the old county court- 
house, erected in 1749. Tip at the head of this inclosed space, which long 
custom miscalls a square, is the First Church, its pinnacles appearing dimly 
through the interweaving branches of tall elms. There is a coolness as well 
as a repose about the spot that makes us loiter. 

After the tragic death of his first wife, Bradford bethought him of Mrs. 
South worth, whom he had known and wooed in old England as Alice Carpen- 
ter. She was now a widow. He renewed his suit, and she hearkened to him. 
But as the governor could not leave his magistracy, the lady, ceding her 
woman's rights, took ship, and came to Plymouth in August, 1623. In a 
fortnight they were married. 

Bradford tells how the passengers of the ship Ann, of whom Mistress 
Southworth was one, were affected by what they saw when they first set 
foot in Plymouth. They were met by a band of haggard men and women, 
meanly appareled, and in some cases little better than half-naked. The best 



PLYMOUTH, CLAEK'S ISLAND, AND DUXBURY. 035 

dish they could set before tlielr friends was a lobster or piece of fisli, without 
other drink than a cup of water. Some of the newly arrived fell weepino-; 
others wished themselves in England again, while even the joy of meeting 
friends from whom they had long been separated could not dispel the sad- 
ness of others in beholding their miserable condition. The governor has not 
told us of the coming of Alice Southworth, but says simply there were "some 
very useful persons" on board the ship Ann. 

Here the governor entertained Pere Gabriel Dreuillettes, in 1650, with a 
fish dinner, because, says the good old Jesuit, it was a Fiiday. The govern- 
or was equal to the courtesy; yet, I fancy, fish dinners were often eaten in 
Plymouth. 

Bradford's second wife survived him thirteen years. With her came his 
brother-in-law, George Morton, her sister, Bridget Fuller,' and two daughters 
of Elder Brewster. She lived thirty years with her second husband, and, 
from the tribute of Nathaniel Morton,^ must have been a woman of an exem- 
plary and beautiful character. Her sister, Mary Carpenter, lived to be nine- 
ty years old. She is referred to in the church records of Plymouth as "a 
godly old maid, never married." 

Apropos of the governor's wedding, I extract this notice of the first mar- 
riage in the colony from his history: "May 12th, 1621, was y® first marriage 
in this place, which, according to y*^ laudable custorae of y^ Low Countries, 
was thought most requisite to be performed by the magistrate, as being a 
civill thing, upon which many questions aboute inheritance doe depende," etc. 

When Edward Winsiow was in Engkind as agent of the colony, and was 
interrogated at the instance of Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury, before the 
Lords Commissioners of the Plantations, he was, among other things, ques- 
tioned upon this practice of marriage by magistrates. He answered boldly 
that lie found nothing in Scripture to restrict marriage to the clergy. He 
also alleged that the plantation had long been without a minister, and finish- 
ed by citing, as a precedent, his own raai'riage by a magistrate at the Staat- 
hmis in Holland. Morton, who appeared as an accuser of Winsiow, says, 
"The people of New England held the use of a ring in marriage to be a re- 
lique of popery, a diabolical circle for the Devell to daunce in." 

As soon as they had definitely settled upon a location, the colonists went 
to work building their town. They began to prepare timber as early as the 
23d of December, but the inclemency of the season and the distance every 
thing was to be transported — there were no trees standing within an eighth 
of a mile of the present Leyden Street — made the work painfully laborious 
and the progress slow. On the twenty-eighth day the company was consoli- 

V 

' Wife of Samuel Fuller. She gave the church the lot of ground on which the parsonage 
stood. — Allen. 

'^ See Appendix to Bradford's History. 



286 



THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 



dated into nineteen families, the single men joining some household in order to 
lessen the number of houses to be built. They then staked out the ground, 
giving every person half a pole in breadth and three in length. Each head of 
a family chose his homestead by lot, and each man was required to build his 
own house. By Tuesday, the 9th of January, the Common House wanted 
nothing but the thatch to be complete; still, although it was only twenty 
feet square, the weather was so inclement that it took four days to cover it. 
They could seldom work half the week. 

Captain Smith says, in 1624, the town consisted of two-and-thirty houses 
and about a hundred and eighty people. The Common House is believed to 

have stood on the south side 
of Leyden Street, where the 
abrupt descent of the hill be- 
gins. In digging a cellar on 
the S]iot, in 1801, sundry tools 
and a plate of iron were dis- 
covered, seven feet below the 
surface of the ground. This 
house is supposed to have 
served the colonists for every 
purpose of a public nature un- 
til the building of their for- 
tress on Burial Hill, Mourt 
calls it their rendezvous, and 
relates that a few days after completion it took fire from a spark in the 
thatch. At the time of the accident Governor Carver and William Bradford 
were lying sick within, with their muskets charged, and the thatch blazing 
above them, to their very great danger. In this Common House the working 
parties slept until their dwellings were made ready. 

It was worth living two hundred years ago to have witnessed one street 
scene that took place here. John Oldham, the contentions, the incorrigible, 
dared to return to Plymouth after banishment. He had, with Lyford, tried 
to breed a revolt among the disaffected of the colony. A rough and tough 
malignant was Oldham, fiercely denouncing the magistrates to their teeth 
when called to answer for his misdeeds. He defied them roundly in their 
grave assembly. Turning to the by-standers, he exclaimed : 

"My maisters whar is your harts? now show your courage, you have oft 
complained to me so and so ; now is y'^ tynie if you will doe any thing, I will 
stand by you." 

He returned more choleric than before, calling those he met rebels and 
traitors, in his mad fury. They put him under guard until his wrath had 
time to cool, and set their invention to work. He was compelled to pass 
through a double file of musketeers, every one of whom " was ordered to give 




blT£ OF THE COMMON UUUSE. 



PLYMOUTH, CLARK'S ISLAND, AND DUXBURY. 



287 



I 



liim a thump on y* brich, with y'^ but end of liis musket," and was tlien con- 
veyed to the water-side, where a boat was in readiness to carry him awaj'. 
They then bid him go and mend his manners. The idea of the gantlet was, 
I suspect, borrowed from the Indians. 

This little colony of pilgrims was at first a patriarchal community. Every 
thing was in common. Each year an acre of land was allotted to every inhab- 
itant to cultivate. The complete failure of the experiment ought to stand 
for a precedent, though it seems somehow to have been forgotten. Men, they 
found, would not work for the common interest as for themselves, and so the 
idea of a community of dependents was abandoned for an association of inde- 
l^endent factors. From this time they began to get on. The rent-day did 
not trouble them. "We are all freeholders," writes Edward Hilton home to 
England. In 1626 the planters bought themselves free of the undertakers, 
who oppressed them with ruinous charges for every thing furnished the col- 
ony. Allerton, who was sent over in 1625 to beg the loan of one hundred 
pounds sterling, was obliged to pay thirty jiounds in the hundred interest for 
the two hundred pounds he had obtained. In the year 1627 they divided all 
their stock into sliares, giving each person, or share, twenty acres of land, 
besides the single acre already allotted. 

It is time to resume our walk down Leyden Street. On reaching the 
bluiF before mentioned the street divides, one branch descending the decliv- 
ity toward the water, while the other skirts the hill-side. The Universalist 
Church at the corner marks the site of the Allyne House, an ancien*^ dwell- 
ing demolish- 
ed about 1826. _^:^^ - ' - — 
By the Plym- 
outh records, it 
appears that, 
in 1699, Mr. 
Joseph Allyne 
married Mary 
Doten, daugh- 
ter of Edward, 
and grand- 
daughter of 
that Edward 
Doten who had 
come in the 
3Tayflo%oer. 
Among the 
children of Jo- 
seph Allyne 
born in the old the allyne house. 




288 



THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 



homestead was Mary, who became the mother of that "flame of fire," Jamea 
Otis. The house commanded a fine view of the bay, its foundations being 
liigher than the chimneys in the streets below. It may not, perhaps, be gen- 
erally known that James Otis, after completing his studies in the oftice of 
Jeremiah Gridley, then the most eminent lawyer in the province, came from 
Boston to Plymouth, where he took an ofiice in the main street. He practiced 
there during the years l748-'49, when his talents called him to a broader field. 
Mercy, the sister of James Otis, married James Warren, a native of Plym- 
outh. Pie succeeded General Joseph Warren as president of the Provincial 
Congress of Massachusetts, but is better known as the author of the cele- 
brated "Committee of Correspondence," which he proposed to Samuel Adams 
while the latter was at his house. Mrs. Warren, at the age of seventy, was 
visited by the Duke De Liancourt. " She then retained," he says, " the activ- 
ity of mind which distinguished her as a sister of James Otis ; nor had she 
lost the graces of person or conversational 2:)0wers, Avhich made her still a 
charming companion." For reasons apparent to the reader, she resolved not 

to send her " History 
of the Revolution" to 
the press during her 
husband's lifetime. 

Going beyond the 
church, we come upon 
the open s])ace of 
p- greensward, inter- 
sected by footpaths, 
known as Cole's Hrll. 
Some defensive works 
were erected on this 
bank in 1*742, in the 
Revolution, and again 
in 1814. I have al- 
ready traversed it 
in imagination, when 
standing on the sum- 
mit of Burial Hill. 
It is no longer a 
place of graves, nor 
does it in the least suggest, by any monumental symbol, the tragedy of the 
Pilgrims' first winter here, when, as Bradford touchingly says, " Y" well were 
not in any measure sufiicient to tend y^ sicke; nor the living scarce able to 
burie the dead." Their greatest strait was in May and June, when there 
were no wild fowl. Winslow says they Avere without good tackle or seines 
to take the fish that swam so abundantly in the harbor and creeks. 




THE JOANNA DAVIS HOUSE, COLE'S HILL. 



PLYMOUTH, CLAKIvS ISLAND, AND DUXBURY. 



289 



We may not disguise the fact. The least attractive ohject is the Rock of 
the Forefathers. Tlie sti-anger who conies prepared to do homage to the spot 
the Pilgrims' feet lirst pressed, finds liis sensibility stricken in a vital ])hice. 
The insign.itieant aj)pearance of the rock itself, buried out of sight beneath a 
shrine made with hands, and the separation of the sacred ledge into two frag- 
ments, each of which claims a divided regard, give a death-blow to the emo- 
tions of awe and reverence with which he approaches this corner-stone of , 
American history. 

Plymouth Rock, or rather what is left of it in its original position, is 
reached by following Water 
Street, which, as its name indi- 
cates, skirts the shore, conduct- 
ing you through a region once 
devoted to commerce, now 
apparently consigned to irre- 
trievable decay. Near Hedge's 
Wharf, and in close vicinity to 
the old Town Dock, is the ob- 
ject of our j^resent search. A 
canopy, designed by Billings, has 
been built above it. I entered. 
In tlie stone pavement is a cav- 
ity of perhaps two feet square, 
and underneath the uneven sur- 
face the rock appears. I had 
often wished to stand here, but 
now all enthusiasm was gone 
out of me. I had rather have contented myself with the small piece so long 
treasured, and with the loom of the rock as my imagination had beheld it, 
than to stand in the actual presence of it. , 

By the building of street and wdiarf on a higher level the rock is now at 
some little distance from high-water mark.' At one time the sea had heaped 
the sand upon it to the depth of twenty feet, but the tradition of the spot 
had been well kept, and at the dawn of the Revolution the sand was cleared 
away, and the rock again laid bare. This was in 1774. In the attempt to re- 
move it from its bed it split asunder, the superstitious seeing in this accident- 
al fracture a presage of the division of the British empire in America. The 
upper half, or shell, of Forefithers' Rock was reiiioved to the middle of the 
village, and placed at the end of a wall, where, along with vulgar stones, it 




PLYMOUTH ROCK IN 1850. 



' In 1741, wiieii it was proposed to build a wharf near the rock, it was pointed out as the iden- 
tical landing-place of the Pilgiims bj* Elder Thomas Faunce, who, having been born in 1G4G, had 
received the fact from the original settlers. 

19 



290 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 

propped the embankment. In 1834 tlie fractnred half was removed fi'om the 
town square to its present position in front of Pilgrim ILill, where it is now 
lying. 

The honor of having first set foot on this threshold of fame is claimed for 
John Alden and Mary Chilton. The question of precedence Avill probably 
never be settled. It is also claimed for the exploring party who landed from 
the sliallop on Monday, the -^-fst of December, commonly called Forefathers' 
Day.^ 

For more than two hundred years the 22d of December had been observed 
as the day of the landing; that is, in effect, to say, it had been so observed by 
the Pilgrims themselves, by their descendants around their firesides, and had 
received the sanction of formal commemoration, in 1769, by the Old Colony 
Club, Men were then living who were witliin two generations of the first 
comers, and retained all their traditions unimpaired. After this long period 
had ehipsed, it was assumed that the Pilgrims had designed to signalize the 
landing of the exploring party of eighteen, rather than that from the Mayflow- 
er^ and upon this theory, by adopting the new style, tlie landing was fixed 
for the 21st, a substitution which has been generally acquiesced in by re- 
cent writers. Unless it is believed that the landing of the party of discovery 
possessed greater significance to the Pilgrims, and to those who lived within 
hearing of the voices of the Maiifloioa\ than the disembai'kation of the whole 
body of colonists on the very strand they had finally adopted for their future 
home, the presumption of error in computing the difference between old and 
new style has little force. 

For six weeks these explorations had continued all along the coast-line of 
Cape Cod, and nothing had been settled until the return of the last party to 
the shi[). The Mayflou'er then sailed for Plymouth, and cast anchoi- in the 
harbor on the 16th; but the explorations continued, nor was there a decision 
until the 20th as to the best point for fixing the settlement. Moreover, there 
are no precise reasons for saying that the first exploring party landed any- 
where within the limits of the present town of Plymouth, nor any tradition 
of its making the rock a stepping-stone. 

We prefer to believe that the Pilgrims meant to illustrate the landing 
from the Mayfloicer — the event emphasized by poets, painters, and orators — 
as marking the true era of settlement ; that the 22d of December was intelli- 

' This party consisted of eighteen persons — viz., Miles Standish, John Carver, William Bradford, 
Edward Winslow, John Tilley, Edward Tilley, John Rowland, Ricliard Warren, Steven Hopkins, 
and Edward Doten. Besides these were two seamen, John Alderton and Thomas English. Of 
the ship's com))any were Clark and Coppin, two of the master's mates, the master-gunner, and 
three sailors. Tliis little band of discoverers left the ship at anchor at Cape Cod Harbor on the 
^gth of December. Moiirt calls Alderton and English "two of our seamen," in distinction from 
the ship's company proper, they having been sent over by the undertakers, in the service of the 
plantation. 



PLYMOUTH, CLARK'S ISLAND, AND DUXBURY. 291 

gently adopted by those best able to judge of their intentions; and that an 
unbroken custom of more than two centuries should remain undisturbed, 
even if it had originated in a technical error, which we do not believe was the 
case. "Tliis rock," says the gifted De Tocqueville, "has become an object of 
veneration in the United States. I have seen bits of it carefully preserved in 
several towns of the Union. Does not this sufficiently show that all human 
power and greatness is in the soul of man ? Here is a stone which the feet 
of a few outcasts pressed for an instant, and the stone becomes famous; it is 
treasured by a great nation ; its very dust is shared as a relic. And what 
has become of the gate-ways of a thousand palaces ? Who cares for them ?" 

The skeleton of a body was here before them, but, as Carlyle says, the soul 
was wanting until these men and women came. Mr. Sherley, writing to Brad- 
ford, says, " You are the people that must make a plantation and erect a city 
in those remote places when all others fail and return." 

I do not find such conspicuous exaraj^les of intolerance among the Pil- 
grims as afterward existed in the Bay Colony. Lyford said thfey were Jes- 
uits in their ecclesiastical polity, but they permitted him to gather a separate 
church and perform the Episcopal service among them. Beyond question, 
they were not willing to see the hierarchy from which they had fled estab- 
lish itself in their midst. The intrigues of such men as Lyford within the 
colony, and Weston in the company at home, kept back the remnant of their 
own chosen associates, and re-enforced them with churchmen, or else men of 
no particular religion or helpfulness. 

In November, 1621, the planters received an accession of thirty-five per- 
sons by the Fortune.^ It was the custom in the plantation for the governor 
to call all the able-bodied men together every day, and lead them to their 
work in the fields or elsewhere. On Christmas-day they were summoned as 
usual, but most of the new-comers excused themselves, saying it was against 
their consciences to work on that day. The governor told them if they made 
it a matter of conscience he would spare them until they were better inform- 
ed. He then led away the rest. When those who had worked came home 
at noon they found the conscientious observers of the day in the street, at 
play ; some pitching the bar, and some at stool-ball and like sports. The 
governor went to them, took away their implements, and told them it was 
against his conscience they should play while others worked. If they made 
keeping the day a matter of devotion, they must keep their houses, but there 
must be no gaming or reveling in the streets. Assuredly there was some 
fun in William Bradford, governor. 



' On her return voyage the Fortune was seized by a French man-of-war, Captain Frontenan de 
Pennart, who took Thomas Barton, master, and the rest prisoners to the Isle of Rhc, phindering 
the vessel of beaver worth five hundred pounds, belonging to the Pilgrims. The vessel and crew 
were discharged after a brief detention. — "British Archives." 



292 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 

Hutchinson — after all the abuse of him, the fairest historian as to what 
transpired in advance of the Revolutionary period — gives the Plymouth col- 
onists credit for moderation. When Mrs. Hutchinson was banished by Mas- 
sachusetts, she and her adherents applied for and obtained leave to settle on 
Aquidneck, then acknowledged to be within the Plymouth patent. Before 
this, Roger Williams, who had been their minister, was, after his banishment 
from Salem, kindly used, though requested to remove beyond their limits, for 
fear of giving offense to the Massachusetts colony. Many Quakers probably 
saved their lives by fleeing to Plymouth, although the Pilgi'ims detested 
their worship and enacted laws against them. The town of Swanzey' was al- 
most wholly settled by Baptists. 

The relations of the Pilgrims with the Indians were founded in right and 
justice, and stood on broader grounds than mere policy. This is shown in 
the unswerving attachment of Massasoit, the fidelity of Samoset, and the 
friendship of Squanto. The appearance of Samoset in the Pilgrim village 
was of good'augury to the colony, and is worthy of a more appreciative pen- 
cil than has yet essayed it. 

About the middle of March, after many false alarms of the savages, an In- 
dian stalked into the town. Passing silently by the houses, he made straight 
for the rendezvous. I think I see the matrons and maids peeping through 
their lattices at the dusky intruder. He was tall, straight of limb, and come- 
ly, with long black hair streaming down his bare back, for, except a narrow 
girdle about his loins, he was stark naked. When he would have gone into 
the rendezvous the guard intercepted him. He was armed with a bow, and 
in his quiver were only two arrows, one headed, the other unheaded, as indi- 
cating the pacific nature of his mission. His bearing was frank and fearless, 
as became a sagamore. " Welcome, Englishmen," he said to the by-standers, 
astounded, as well they might be, on hearing such familiar salutation from the 
lips of a savage. 

The first thing this Indian asked for was beer. The Pilgrims themselves 
preferred it to water, but they had none left ; so they feasted him on good 
English cheer, and gave him strong waters to wash it down. His naked body 
excited astonishment, and a compassionate Pilgrim cast a horseman's cloak 
about him. Of all the assembly that encircled him, Samoset alone seemed 
unconcerned. The settlers had seen skulking savages on the hills, but they 
knew not what to make of this fellow, who thus dropped in on them, as it 
were, for a morning call. Since their first encounter with the Nauset Indians, 
they expected eimuty, and not friendship, A midnight assault in their un- 
prepared state was the thing most dreaded. Peace or war seemed to reside 
in the person of this Indian. They watched him narrowly. At night-fiiU they 
hoped he would take his leave; but he showed neither disposition to depart, 

' First spelled Swansea, and named from Swansea, in South Wales. 



PLYMOUTH, CLARK'S ISLAND, AND DUXBURY. 293 

nor distrust at beholding himself the evident object of mingled fear and sus- 
picion. They concluded to send him on board the Mayfloioer for safe-keepin"-, 
and Samoset went willingly to the shallop ; but it was low tide, and they 
could not reach the vessel. So they lodged him in Steven Hopkins's house. 
The next day he left them to go to Massasoit, and they finished by recogniz- 
ing him as a friend, sent them by Heaven. Samoset was the Pemaquid chief, 
of whom we should gladly know more than we do. His communications were 
of importance to the Pilgrims, for Bradford admits that the exact description 
he gave them of his own country and of its resources was very profitable to 
them. I suppose it led to their establishing the trading-houses at Penobscot 
and Kennebec, and to the addition of the strip of country on the latter river 
to their patent of 1629, afterward enlarged by other tracts purchased of the 
Indians. The Pilgrims preferred trading to fishing, and no subsequent colony 
had such an opportunity to enrich themselves ; but it was the policy of the 
English adventurei-s to keep them poor, and it may be questioned whether 
they developed the shrewdness in traffic for which their descendants have 
become renowned. 

Samoset's coming paved the way for that of Massasoit, who made his en- 
try into Plymouth with Indian pomp, in March. He was preceded by Samo- 
set and Squanto,' who informed the settlers that the king was close at hand. 
The Pilgrims were then assembled under arms on the top of Burial Hill, en- 
gaged in military exercise, and witnessed the approach of Massasoit with his 
savage retinue of sixty warriors. Here were two representative delegations 
of the Old World and the New ; the English in steel caps and corslets, the 
Indians in wild beasts' skins, paint, and feathers. The bearing of the Chris- 
tians was not more martial than that of the savages. 

The Pilgrims stood on their dignity, and waited. At the king's request, 
Edward Winslow went out to hold parley with him. His shining armor de- 
lighted the Indian sachem, who would have bought it, together with his 
sword, on the spot, but Winslow was unwilling to part with either. After 
mutual salutations and some talk of King James, Massasoit, accompanied by 
twenty, proceeds to the town, leaving Winslow a hostage in the hands of 
Quadequina, his brother. At the town brook Massasoit is met by Standisli 
with half a dozen musketeers. Here are more grave salutations, and then the 
king is conducted to an unfinished house, where the utmost state the Pilgrims 
could contrive was a green rug and three or four cushions placed on the floor. 
There is a roll of drum and blast of trumpet in the street, and Bradford, 
attended by musketeers, enters. He kisses the hand of the New England 
prince — " tho'," says Mourt, "the king looked greasily" — and the savage 



L 



' Sqnanto was one of the Indians kidnaped by Hunt, and the last surviving native inhabitant 
of Plymouth. He had lived in London with John Slany, merchant, treasurer of the Newfoundland 
Company. 



294 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 

kisses Bradford. ' Then they sit. The governor calls for a stoup of strong 
waters, which he quaffs to the king, after the manner of chivalry; the royal 
savage drinks, in return, a gresl draught, that makes him " svveate all the time 
after." 

" Give me the cups, 

And let the kettle to the trumpet speak, 

The trumpet to the cannoneer without, 

The cannons to the heavens, the heaven to earth. 

'Now the king drinks to Hamlet.' Come, begin." 

It may interest some readers to know what a real Indian king was like. 
" He was," says an eye-witness, " a very lustie man, in his best yeares, an able 
body, grave of countenance, and spare of speech; in his Attyre little or noth- 
ing differing from the rest of his followers, only in a great Chaine of white 
bone Beades about his necke ; and at it behinde his necke hangs a little bagg 
of Tobacco, which he dranke and gave us to drinke ; his face was painted with 
a sad red like murry, and oyled both head and face, that hee looked greasily. 
All his followers, likewise, were in their faces in whole or in part painted, 
some blacke, some red, some yellow, and some white, some with crosses, and 
other Antick workes, some had skins on them, and some naked, all strong, 
tall, all men in appearance. 

" One thing I forgot ; the king had in his bosome, hanging to a string, a 
great long knife. He marvelled much at our trumpet, and some of his men 
would sound it as well as they could." Mourt also states that the king trem- 
bled with fear while he sat by the governor, and that the savages showed 
such apprehension of the fire-arms that the governor caused them to be re- 
moved during the conference. 

This was the first American Congress of which I have found mention. 
The Indians knew what a treaty of amity meant. They needed no instruc- 
tion in international law. I believe they knew the Golden Rule, or had a 
strong inkling of it. That was a convention more famous than the Field of 
the Cloth of Gold, though there were but a green rug and a few cushions. 
"The peace," Bradford writes, "hath now (1645) continued this twenty-four 
years." "To which I may add," says Prince, "yea, 30 years longer, viz., to 
1675." 

The Indians, at the enteilainment given them in Plymouth, partook heart- 
ily of the food set before them, but they could not be induced to taste spices 
or condiments. Salt was not used by them. Gosnold regaled them with a 
picnic at the Vineyard, of which John Brereton says, " the Indians niisliked 
nothing but our mustard, whereat -they made many a sowre face," I doubt 
not the English spread it thickly on the meat, even at the hazard of good 
understanding. 

It took these simple natives a long time to comprehend the English meth- 
od of correspondence. They could not penetrate the mystery of talking pa- 



PLYMOUTH, CLARK'S ISLAND, AND DUXBURY. 295 

per. There is a story of an Indian sent by Governor Dudley to a lady with 
some oranges, the present being accompanied with a letter in which the num- 
ber was mentioned. When out of the town, the Indian put the letter under 
a stone, and going a short distance off, ate one of the oranges. His astonish- 
ment at finding the theft discovered was unbounded, 

I did not omit a ramble among tlic wharves, but saw little that would in- 
terest the reader. When you are there, the proper thing to do is to take a. 
boat and cross the bay to Clark's Island and Duxbury. We sailed over the 
submerged piles at the end of Long Wharf; for the pier, once the pride of 
Plymouth, was fast going to wreck. The tops of the piles, covered with sea- 
weed kept in motion by the waves, bore an unpleasant I'esemblance to di-own- 
ed human heads bobbing up and down. As we passed close to the new light- 
house off Beach Point, the boatman remarked that when it was being placed 
in position the caisson slipped in the slings, and dropped to the bottom near- 
er the edge of the channel than was desirable. 

Having wind enough, we were soon up with Saquish Head, and in a few 
minutes more were fast moored to the little jetty at Clark's Island. The 
presence at one time of two islands in Plymouth Bay is fully attested bv 
competent witnesses. Many have supposed Brown's Island, a shoal seaward 
of Beach Point, to have been one of these, tradition affirming tliat tlie stumps 
of trees have been seen there. One author' believes Brown's Island to have 
been above water in the time of the Pilgrims. Champlain locates two islands 
on Duxbury side, with particulars that leave no doubt where they then were. 
Mourt twice mentions them, and they are on Blauw's map inside the Gurnet 
headland. In an account of Plymouth Harbor, printed near the close of the 
last century, two islands are mentioned: "Clark's, consisting of about one 
hundred acres of excellent land, and Saquish, Avhich was joined to the Gurnet 
by a narrow piece of sand : for several years the water has made its w\ay 
across and insulated it. The Gurnet is an eminence at the southei'n extrem- 
ity of the beach, on which is a light-house, built by the State."* 

Bradford mentions the narrow escape of their pinnace from shipwreck on 
her return from Narraganset in 1628, by " drivitig on y^ flats that lye with- 
out, caled Brown's Hands." Winthrop relates that in 1635 "two shallops, 
going, laden with goods, to Connecticut, were taken in the night with an east- 
erly storm and cast away upon Brown's Island, near the Gurnett's Nose, and 
the men all drowned." In 1806 it was, as now, a shoal. There can be little 
dispute as to Saquish having been permanently united to the main-land by 
those shifting: movements common to a sea-coast of sand.' 



' Winsor, "History of Duxbury," p. 26, note. 

"•* See ante, also "Massachusetts Historical Collections," vol. ii., p. 5. First iiglit-house erected 
1763; burned 1801. 

^ Saquish is the Indian for clams. They are of extraordinary size in Plymouth and Duxbury. 



296 



THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 




TUli ULKMCr. 



It is rathei' remarkable that, with a sea-coast exceeding that of the other 
New England colonies, Plymouth had so few good harbors. The beach, tlie 
safeguard of Plymouth, was once covered on the inner side with plum and 
wild cherry trees, pitch-pines, and undergrowth similar to that existing on 
Cape Cod and the adjacent islands. The sea has, in great storms, made a 
clean breach through it, digging channels by which vessels passed. Tliere 
was a shocking disaster within the harbor in December, 1778, when the pri- 
vateer brig General Arnold broke from her anchorage in the Cow Yard,' and 
was driven by the violence of the gale upon the sand-flats. Twenty-four 
hours elapsed before assistance could be rendered, and when it arrived sev- 
enty-five of the crew had perished from freezing and exhaustion, and the re- 
mainder were more dead than alive. '^ 

As we sailed I observed shoals of herring breaking water, or, as tlie fisher- 
men word it, "scooting." Formerly they were taken in prodigious quantity^ 
and used by the Pilgrims to enrich their land. Squanto gave them the hint 
of putting one in every hill of corn. His manner of fishing for eels, I may 
add, was new to me. He trod them out of the mud with his feet, and caught 
them in his hands. I was surprised at the number of seals continually rising 



' An anc'hornge near Clark's Island, so called from a cow-whale having been taken there. 

^ The following account of what straits light-keepers have been subjected to in coast-harbors 
during the past winter will perhaps be read with some surprise by those acquainted with Plymouth 
only in its summer aspect: "On Tuesday evening, February 9th, 1875, the United States revenue 
steamer Gallatin put into Plymouth harbor for the night, to avoid a north-west gale blowing out- 
side. On the morning of the 10th, at daylight, when getting under way. Captain Selden discovered 
a signal of distress flying on Duxbury Pier Light. The light-house was so surrounded by ice that 
lie was utterly unable to reach the pier with a boat; the captain, therefore, steamed the vessel 
through the ice near enough to converse with the keeper, and found that he had had no commimi- 
cation with any one outside of the light since December 22d, IST-t ; that his fuel and water were 
out ; and that they had been on an allowance of a pint of water a day since February oth, 187.5. 
The steamer forced her way to within some fifty or seventy-five yards of the pier, when Lieutenants 
Weston and Clayton, with the boats, succeeded, after two hours' hard work cutting through the 
ice, in reaching the pier, and furnished the keeper and his wife with plenty of wood and water." 



PLYMOUTH, CLARK'S ISLAND, AND DUXBURY. 



29: 



I 



within half a cable's length of the boat, at -which they curiously gazed with 
their bright liquid eyes. We did them no harm as ever and anon one pushed 
his sleek round head and whiskered muzzle above water. Hundreds of them 
disport themselves here in summer, though in winter they usually migrate. 

It is only a little way from the landing-place at Clark's Island to the ven- 
erable Watson mansion, seen embowered among trees as we approached.' 
The parent house 
was removed from 
its first situation, 
rather nearer the 
water than it now 
stands, and has 
incorporated with 
itself newer addi- 
tions, till it is quite 
lost in tile trans- 
formation it has 
andei'gone. The 
island is a charm- 
ing spot, and the 
house a substan- 
tial, hospitable 
one. I did not 
like it the less be- 
cause it was old, and seemed to carry me something nearer to the Pilgrims 
than any of the white band of houses I saw across the bay. Ducks, turkeys, 
geese, and fowls lived in good-fellowship together in the barn-yard, where 
were piled unseaworthy boats; and store of old lumber-drifts the sea had pro- 
vided against the winter. The jaw-bone of a whale, that Mr. Watson said he 
liad found stranded on the beach, and brought home on his back, lay bleach- 
ing in the front yard. I may have looked a trifle incredulous, for the hale 
old gentleman, turned, I should say, of three-score, drew himself up as if he 
would say, "Sir, I can do it again." 

After showing us his ftimily portraits, ancient furniture, and other heir- 
looms, our host told us how Sir Edmund Andros had tried to dispossess his 
ancestors. My companion and myself then took the path leading to Election 
Rock, that owes its name, doubtless, to some local event. It is a large boul- 
der, about twelve feet high, on the highest point of the island. Two of its 

' There is tradition for it that Edward Dotey, the fighting serving-man, was the first wlio at- 
tempted to land on Clari^'s Island, but was checked for his presumption. Elkanah Watson was 
one of the three original grantees of the island, which has remained in the family since IG'.H). Pre- 
vious to that time it belonged to the town. Tlie other proprietors were Samuel Lucas and George 
Morton. 




WATSON s iiorsE, clauk's island. 



298 



THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 



faces are precipitous, \v])ile tlie western side offers an easy ascent. At the 
instance of the Pilgrim Society, tlie following- words, from " Mourt's Re- 
lation," have been graven on its 
■^mt face : 




ELECTION ROCK, CLARK'S ISLAND. 



"On the 

Sabboth Day 

wee rested. 

20 December, 

1620." 

As is well known to all who 
have followed the fortunes of the 
little band of eighteen — and who 
has not followed them in their 
toilsome progress in search of a 
liaven of rest? — their shallop, after 
narrowly escaping wreck among 
the shoals of Saqnish, gained a safe anchorage under the shelter of one of the 
then existing islands. It is probable that when they rounded Saquish Head 
tliey found themselves in smoother water. 

The gale had carried away their mast and sail. Their pilot proved not 
only ignorant of the place into which he was steering, but a coward when the 
pinch came. They were on the point of beaching the shallop in a cove full 
of breakers, when one of the sailors bid them about with her, if they were 
men, or else they would be all lost. So that the fortunes of the infant col- 
ony hung, at this critical moment, on the presence of mind of a nameless 
mariner. 

Cold, hungry, and wet to the skin, they remained all night in a situation 
M'hich none but the roughest campaigner would know how rightly to estimate. 
The Indians had met them, at Eastham, with such determined hostility that 
they expected no better reception here. Their arms were wet and unserv- 
iceable. As usual, present discomfort triumphed over their fears, for many 
were so much exhausted that they could no longer endure their misery on 
board the shallop. Some of them gained the shore, where with great diffi- 
culty they lighted a fire of the wet wood they were able to collect. The re- 
mainder of the party were glad to join them before midnight; for the wind 
shifted to north-west, and it began to freeze. They had little idea where 
they were, having come upon the land in the dark. It was not until day- 
break that they knew it to be an island. Surely, these wei'e times to try the 
souls of men, and to wring the selfishness out of them. 

This night bivouac, this vigil of the Pilgrims around their blazing camp- 
fire, the flames painting their bronzed faces, and sending a grateful warmth 
into benumbed bodies, was a subject worthy the pencil of Rembrandt. I 
doubt that they dared lay their armor aside or shut their eyes the live-long 
night. I believe they were glad of the dawn of a bright and glorious Decem- 



PLYMOUTH, CLARK'S ISLAND, AND DUXBURY. 299 

ber day.' They dried their buff coats, cleansed tlieir arms of rust, and felt 
themselves once more men fit for action. Then they shouldered their mus- 
kets and reconnoitred the island. Probably the eighteen stood on the sum- 
mit of tills rock. 

I found Clark's Island to possess a charm exceeding any so-called restora- 
tion or monumental insci'iption — the charm of an undisturbed state. No 
doubt much of the original forest has disappeared, and Boston has yet to re- 
turn the cedar gate-posts so carefully noted by every succeeding chronicler 
of the Old Colony. A few scrubby originals of this variety yet, however, re- 
main ; and the eastern side of the island is not destitute of trees. The air 
was sweet and wholesome, the sea-breeze invigorating. In the quietude of 
the isle the student may open his history, and read on page and scene the 
story of a hundred English hearts sorely tried, but triumphing at last. 

History has not told us how the eighteen adventurous Pilgrims passed 
their first Sabbath on Clark's Island. One writer says very simply " wee 
rested;" and his language re-appears on the tablet of imperishable rock. 
Bradford says, on the " last day of y^ weeke they prepared ther to keepe y^ 
Sabbath." If ever they had need of rest it was on this day; and if ever they 
had reason to give thanks for their " manifold deliverances," now was the oc- 
casion. They would hardly have stirred on any enterprise without tlieir 
Bible; and probably one having the imprint of Geneva, with figured verses, 
was now produced. Bradford, yet ignorant of liis wife's death, may have 
jirayed, and Winslow exhorted, as both admit they often did in the church. 
Master Carver may have struck the key-note of the Hundredth Psalm, " the 
grand old Puritan anthem;" and even Miles Standish and the "saylers" 
three, may have joined in the forest hymnal.^ 

Hood, in his " History of Music in New England," speaking of the early 
part of the eighteenth century, says: "Singing psalms, at that day, had not 
become an amusement among the people. It was used, as it ever ought to 
be, only as a devotional act. So great was the reverence in which their 
psalm-tunes were held, that the people put off their hats, as they would in 
prayer, whenever they heard one sung, though not a word was uttered." 

On leaving Clark's Island we steered for Captain's Hill. By this time the 
water had become much roughened, or, to borrow a word from the boatmen's 
vocabulary," choppy ;" I should have called it hilly. Our attempt to land 
at Duxbury was met with great kicking, bouncing, and squabbling on the 
part of the boat, which seemed to like the chafing of the wharf as little as we 
did the idea of a return to Plymouth against wind and tide. Quiet persever- 



' Saturday, December 9tli, Old Style. 

^ No reasonable doubt can be entertained that the Pilgrims' first religions services were held in 
Provincetown Harbor, either on board the Mayflower or on shore. Tliey were not the men and 
women to permit several Sabbaths to pass by without devotional exercises. 



300 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 

aiice, however, prevailed, and, after clambering- up the piles, we stood upon 
the wharf. A short walk by the cart-way, built to fetch stone from the pier 
to the monument, brought us to tlie brow of the hill. 

Captain's Hill, named from Captain Miles Standish, its early possessor, is ou 
a peninsula jutting out between Duxbury and Plymouth bays. Its surface 
is smooth, with few trees, except those belonging to the farm-houses near its 
base. The soil, that is elsewliere in Duxbury sandy and unproductive, is here 
rather fertile, which accounts for its having become the seat of the puissant 
Captain Standisli. The monument, ali'eady mentioned as in progress, had ad- 
vanced as liigh as the foundations. As originally planned, it was to be built 
of stones contributed by each of the New England States, and by the several 
counties and military organizations of Massachusetts. 

Standish, about 1632, settled upon tliis peninsula, building his house on a 
little rising ground south-east of the hill near the shoi-e. All traces that are 
left of it will be found on the point of land opposite ]Mr, Stephen M. Allen's 
house. The cellar excavation was still visible when I visited it, with some 
of the foundation-stones lying loosely about. Except a clump of young trees 
that had become rooted in the hollows, the point is bare, and looks any thing 
but a desirable site for a homestead. Plymouth is in full view, as is also the 
harbor's open mouth. The space between the headland on which the house 
stood and Captain's Hill was at one time either an arm of the sea, or else in 
great gales the water broke over the level,. forming a sort of lagoon. Mr. 
Winsor, in his " History of Duxbury," says the sea, according to tiie tradi- 
tions of the place, once flowed between Standish's house and the hill. The 
ground about the house, he adds, has been tui'ned up in years past, the search 
being rewarded by the recovery of several relics of tlie old inhabitant.' The 
house is said to have been bui'ned, but so long ago that even the date has 
been quite forgotten. On this same neck Elder Brewster is believed to have 
lived, but the situation of his dwelling is at best doubtful. 

The earliest reference I have seen to the tradition of John Alden "popping 
the question" to Priscilla Mullins for his friend. Miles Standish, is in "Alden's 
Epitaphs," printed in 1814. No mention is there of the snow-white bull, 

"Led by a cord tliat was tied to an iron ring in its nostrils, 
Covered with crimson cloth, and a cushion placed for a saddle." 

John Alden's marriage took place, it is sup])osed, in 1621. The first cattle 
brought to Plymouth were a bull, a heifer, and "three or four jades," sent by 
Mr. Sherley, of the Merchant's Association, in 1624. They were consigned to 

' The first substance discovered was a quantity of barley, charred and wrapped in a blanket. 
Ashes, as fresh as if the fire had just been extinguished, were found in the chimney-place, with 
pieces of an andiron, iron pot, and other articles. There were discovered, also, a gun-lock, sickle, 
hammer, whetstone, and fragments of stone and earthen ware. A sword-buckle, tomahawk, brass 
kettle, etc., with glass beads, showing the action of intense heat, likewise came to light. 



PLYMOUTH, CLARK'S ISLAND, AND DUXBURY. 301 

Wiiislow and Allerton, to be sold. The tradition of the embassy of Alden, 
and of tlie incomparably arch rejoinder of PrisciDa, " Prythee, John, why don't 
you sjx\ak for yourself?" was firmly believed in the fiimily of Alden, where, 
along with that of the young- cooper having first stepped on the ever-famous 
rock, it had passed from the mouth of one generation to another, without 
gainsaying. 

I am not of those who experience a thrill of joy at destroying the illusions 
of long-hoarded family traditions. What of romance has been interwoven 
with the singularly austere lives of the Pui-itans, gracious reader, let us cher- 
ish and protect. The province of the Dryasdust of to-day is to bewilder, to 
deny the existence of facts that have passed without challenge for centuries. 
The farther he is from the event, tlie nearer he accounts himself to truth. 
Historic accuracy becomes another name for historic anarchy. Nothing is 
settled. The grand old characters he sti'ips of their hard-earned fame can 
not confront him. Would they might ! Columbus, Tell, Pocahontas, are im- 
postors : Ireson's Ride and Standish's Conrtship are rudely handled. His 
tactics would destroy the Christian religion. Witliout doubt mere historic 
truth is better written in prose, but by all means let us put a stop to the 
slaughter of all the first-born of New Englaiul poesy. Let us have Puritan 
lovers and sweethearts while we may. "What is your authority?" asked a 
visitor of the guide who was relating the story of a ruined cnstle. " We have 
tradition, and if you h.ave any thing better we will be glad of it." 

Tlie ])osition of Standish in the colony was in a degree anomalous, for he 
was neither a church member nor a devout man. But the Pilgrims, who 
knew on occasion how to smite with the sword, did not put too trifling an 
estimate upon the value of the little iron man. He seems to have deserved, 
as he certainly received, their confidence, as well in tliose aftairs arising out 
of religious disordei's among them as in those of a purely military character. 
When wanted, they knew where he was to be found. 

After his fruitless embassy to England, Standish seems to have turned liis 
sword into a pruning-hook, leading a life of rural simplicity, perhaps of com- 
parative ease. He had, as the times went, a goodly estate*. Tiiere is little 
doubt he was something "splenetic and rash," or that the elders feared he 
would bring them into trouble by his impetuous temper. He was of a race 
of soldiers.' Hubbard calls him a little chimney soon fired. Lyfbrd speaks 
of him as looking like a silly boy, and in utter contempt. The Pilgrims man- 
aged his infirmities with address, and he served them faithfully as soldier and 
mao-istrate. It is passing strange a man of such consequence as he should 
bleep in an unknown grave. 

Near the foot of Captain's Hill is an old gambrel-roofed house, with the 

' I find that a Captain Standish, who is called a great commander, a captain of foot, was killed 
in an attack by Lord Strange on INLmchester, England, daring the Civil War, lG-12. 



302 



THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 



date of 1666 on the chimney. At the entrance the stairs part on each side of 
an immense chimney-stack. The timbers, rough-liewn and exposed to view, 
are bolted with tree-nails. One fire-place would have contained a Yule-log 
from any tree in the primeval forest. Tlie hearth was in breadth like a side- 
walk. On the doors were wooden latches, or bobbins, with the latch-string 
out, as we read in nursery tales. The front of the house was covered with 
climbing vines, and, taken altogether, as it stood out against the dark back- 
ground of the hill, was as picturesque an object as I have seen in many a 
day.' 

I would like to walk with you two miles fi^i'ther on, and visit the old Al- 
den homestead, tlie third that has been inhabited by the family since pilgrim 
John built by the margin of Eagle Tree Pond. This old house, erected by 
Colonel Alden, grandson of the first-comer of the name, is still in the same 
family, and would well repay a visit ; but time and tide wait for us. 

Farther on I have rambled over ancient Careswell, the seat of the Wins- 
lows, a family with a continuous stream of history, from Edward, the govern- 
or, who became one of Cromwell's Americans, and died in his service (you 
may see his letters in the ponderous folios of Thurloe), down to the winner in 
the sea-fight between the Kearsarge and Alabama. Beyond is the mansion 
Daniel Webster inhabited in his lifetime, and the hill where, among the an- 
cient graves, he lies entombed. Here, in Kingston, General John 
Thomas, of the Revolution, lived. 

Another military chieftain, little less renowned than Standish, 
was Colonel Benjamin Church, the famous Indian fighter. He was 
Plymouth-born, but lived some time in Duxbury. In turning over 
the pages of Philip's and King William's wars, we meet him often 
enough, and always giving a good account of himself One act of 
the Plymouth authorities during Philip's war deserves eternal in- 
famy. It drew from Church the whole-hearted denunciation of 
a brave man. 

During that war Dartmouth was destroyed. The Dartmouth 
Indiafis had not been concerned in this outrage, and after much 
persuasion were induced to surrender themselves to the Plym- 
outh forces. They were conducted to Plymouth. The Govern- 
ment ordered all of them to be sold as slaves, and they were 
chukch's transported out of the country, to the number of one hundred 

I despaired of being able to match this act of treachery with any con- 
temporaneous history. But here is a fragment that somewhat approaches it 



' This house has been stated to have been built in part of materials from the house of Captain 
Miles Standish. 

' Baylies's "New Plymouth," 



PLYMOUTH, CLARK'S ISLAND, AND DUXBURY. 3O3 

in villainy. In 1684 the King of France wrote M, de la Barre, Governor of 
New France, to seize as many of the Iroquois as possible, and send them to 
France, where they were to serve in the galleys, in order to diminish the tribe, 
which was warlike, and waged war against the French. Many of them were 
actually in the galleys of Marseilles.' 

The balance is still in our favor. In 1755 we expatriated the entire 
French population of Acadia. Mr, Longfellow tells the story graphically in 
"Evangeline." John Winslow, of Marshfield, was the instrument chosen by 
the home government for the work. It was conducted with savage barbarity. 
Families were separated, wives from husbands, children from parents. They 
were parceled out like cattle among the English settlements. Their aggre- 
gate number was nearly two thousand persons, thenceforth without liome or 
country. One of these outcasts, describing his lot, said, " It was the hardest 
that had happened since our Saviour was upon earth." The story is true. 

Our little boat woi'ked her way gallantly back to Plymouth. Though 
thoroughly wet with the spray she had flung from her bows, I was not ill- 
pleased with the expedition. Figuratively speaking, my knapsack was pack- 
ed, my staff and wallet waiting my grasp. With the iron horse that stood 
panting at the door I made in two hours the journey that Winthrop, Endi- 
cott, and Winslow took two days to accomplish. Certainly I found Plym- 
outh much changed. The Pilgrims would hardly recognize it, though now, 
as in centuries before their coming, 

"The waves that brought them o'er 
Still roll in the bay, and throw tiieir spray, 
As they break along the shore." 

* "Massachusetts Archives." 





PROVINCETOWN FROM THE HILLS. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

P R O V I N C E T O W N. 

"A man may stand there and put all America behind him." — Thoreau. 

A S it was already dark when I arrived in Provincetown, I saw only the 
■^-^ glare froni the lantern of Highland Light in passing throngh Ti-iiro, and 
the gleaming from those at Long Point and Wood End, before tlie train drew 
up at the station. It having been a i-ather busy day with me (I had embark- 
ed at Nantucket in the morning, idled away a few hours at Vineyard Haven, 
and rested as many at Cohasset Narrows), it will be easily understood why I 
left the investigation of my whereabouts to the mori'ow. My wants were at 
this moment reduced to a bed, a ])air of clean sheets, and plenty of blankets; 
for though the almanac said it was July in Provincetown, the night breeze 
blowing freshly was strongly suggestive of November. 

It was Swift, I think, who said he never knew a man reach eminence who 
was not an early riser. Doubtless the good doctor was right. But, then, if 
he had lodged as I lodged, and had risen as I did, two mortal hours before 
breakfast-time, he might have allowed his precept to have its exceptions. I 
devoted these hours to rambling about tlie town. 

Though not more than half a hundred miles from Boston, as the crow 
flies, Cape Cod is regarded as a sort of terra inco(/nita by fully half of New 
England. It has always been considered a good place to emigrate from, 
I'ather than as offering inducements for its young men aiul women to re- 
main at home; though no class of New Englanders, I should add, are more 
warmly attached to the place of their nativity. The ride throughout the 
Cape affords the most impressive example of the tenacity with which a pop- 
ulation clings to locality that has ever come under my observation. To one 



PROVINCETOWN. 



305 



accustomed to tlie fertile shoves of Navraganset Bay or the valley of the Con- 
necticut, tlie region between Sandwich, where you enter upon the Cape, and 
Orleans, where you reach the bend of the fore-arm, is bad enough, though no 
desert. Beyond this is simply a wilderness of sand. 

The surface of the country about Brewster and Orleans is rolling prairie, 
barren, yet thinly covered with an appearance of soil. Stone walls divide the 
lields, but from here down the Cape you will seldom see a stone of any size in 
going thirty miles. My faith in Pilgrim testimony began to diminish as I 
looked on all sides, and in vain, for a " spit's-depth of excellent black earth," 
such as they tell of. It has, perchance, been blown away, or buried out of 
sight in the shiftings constantly going on here, Eastham, Wellfleet, and 







CUllAStiET NAKKOWS. 



Ti-uro grow more and more forbidding, as you approach the Ultima T/ivle, or 
land's end.' 

Mr. Thoreau, who has embodied the results of several excursions to the 
Cape in some a<lmirable sketches, calls it the bared and bended arm of Massa- 
chusetts. Mr. Everett had already used the same figure. To me it looks like 
a skimiy, attenuated arm thrust within a stocking for mending — the bony 
elbow at Chatham, the Avrist at Truro, and the half-closed fingei-s at Prov- 
incetown. It seems quite down at the heel about Orleans, and as if mucli 
darning would be needed to make it as good as new. It was something t<> 
conceive, and more to execute, such a tramp as Tlioreau's, for no one ought to 



' There is a well-defined line of demarkation between the almost uninten-iipted rock wall of 
the north coast and the sand, which, beginning in the Old Colony, in Scitnate, constitutes Cape 
Cod; and, if wo consider Nantucket, Martha's Vineyard, and Long Island as having at some pe- 
riod formed the exterior shores, the almost unbroken belt of sand continues to Florida. This line 
is so little imaginary that it is plain to see where granite gives place to sand; and it is sufficiently 
curious to arrest the attention even of the unscientific exi)lorer. 

20 



306 



THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 



attempt it who can not rise superior to his surroundings, and sliake oflf the 
gloom the weird and wide-spread desolateness of the Landscape inspires. I 
would as lief have marched with Napoleon from Acre, by Mount Carmel, 
through the moving sands of Tentoura. 

The resemblance of the Cape to a hook appears to have struck navigators 
quite early. On old Dutch maps it is delineated with tolerable accuracy, and 
named " Staaten Hoeck," and the bay inclosed within the bend of it " Staaten 
Bay." Massachusetts Bay is " Noord Zee," and Cape Malabar " Vlacke 
Hoeck." Milford Haven appears about where Easthaiu is now located. On 
the earliest map of Champlain the extremity of the Cape is called "C. Blanc," 
or the White Cape.^ Mather says of Cape Cod, he supposes it will never lose 
the name "till swarms of codtish be seen swimming on the highest hills." 

This hook, though a sandy one, caught many a school of migratory fish, 
and even whales found themselves often embayed in the bight of it, on their 
way south, until, from being so long hunted down, they learned to keep a 
good offing. It also caught all the southerly drift along shore, such as stray 







HIGHLAND LIGHT, CAPE COD. 

ships from France and England. Bartholomew Gosnold and John Brereton 
were the first white men to land on it. De Monts, Champlain, De Poutrin- 
court, Smith, and finally the Forefathers, were brought up and turned back 
by it. 

Bradford, under date of 1620, writes thus in his journal: "A word or two 
by y'^ vvay of this Cape : it was thus first named (Cape Cod) by Captain Gos- 
nold and his company, An": 1602, and after by Capten Smith was caled Cape 
James ; but it retains y" former name amongst sea-men. Also y' pointe which 



' "Lequel nous nommames C. Blanc pour ce que c'estoieiit sables et dunes qui paroissent 
ainsi." 



FROVl^'CETOWN. 30Y 

first shewed those dangerous shoulds unto them, they called Point Care, and 
Tucker's Terrour;' but y' French and Dutcl), to this day, call it Malabarr, by 
reason of those perilous shoulds, and y" losses they have suffered their." 

Notwithstanding what Bradtbi-d says, the name ofMallebarre is affixed to 
the extreme point of Cape Cod on early French maps. lu Smith's "New En- 
gland" is the following description: 

"Cape Cod is the next presents itselfe, which is onely a headland of high 
hills of sand, overgi-owne with shrubbie pines, hurts, and such trash, but an 
excellent harbor for all weathers. The Cape is made by the maine sea on 
the one side and a great Bay on the other, in forme of a sickle; on it dolli 
inhabit the people of Pawmet; and in the bottome of the Bay, the people of 
Cliawum. Towards the south and south-west of this Cape is found a long 
and dangerous shoale of sands and rocks. But so farre as I encircled it, I 
found thirtie fadom water aboard the shore and a strong current, which makes 
mee thinke there is a channel about tliis Shoale, where is the best and great- 
est fish to be had. Winter and Summer, in all that Countrie. But the Salvages 
say there is no channel, but that the shoales beginne from the maine at Paw- 
met to the ile of Nausit, and so extends beyond their knowledge into the sea." 

The historical outcome of the Cape is in the early navigations, and in the 
fact that Provincetown was the harbor entered by the Forefathers. The first 
land they saw, after Devon and Cornwall had sunk in the sea, was this sand- 
bar, for it is nothing else. It appeared to their eager eyes, as it will proba- 
bly never again be seen, w'ooded down to the shore. Whales, that they had 
not the means of taking, disported around them. They dropped anchor three- 
quarters of a mile from shore, and, in order to land, were forced to wade a 
"bow shoot," by which manj^ coughs and colds were caught, and a founda- 
tion for the wintei-'s sickness laid. The first landing was probably on Long- 
Point. The men set about discovery; for the master had told them, witli a 
sailor's bluntness, he would be rid of them as soon as possible. The women 
went also to shore to wash, thus initiating on Monday, November \§d, the 
great New England washing-day. 

Were there to be a day of general observance in New England commem- 
orative of the landing of the Pilgrims, it should be that on which they first 
set foot on her soil at Cape Cod; the day, too. on which the compact was 
signed.^ Whatever of sentiment attached to the event should, it would seem, 
be consecrated to the very spot their feet first pressed. There is yet time to 
rescue the day from unaccountable and unmerited neglect. 

On the map of Cyprian Soutliack a thoroughfare is delineated from Mas- 
sachusetts Bay to the ocean at Eastham, near Sandy Point. His words are: 

* Named by Captain Gosnold, on account of the expressed fears of one of his company. 

° Being the JJst of November, it would fall (luite near to the day usually set apart for Thanks- 
Riving in New England, which is merely an arbitrary observance, commemorative of no particular 
occurrence. 



308 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 

"The place where I came through witli a whale-boat, April 26th, 1717, to look 
after Bellame the pirate." I have never seen this map, which Douglass jDro- 
nonnces " a false and pernicious sea-chart." 

From its barring their farther progress, Cape Cod was well known to the 
discoverers of the early part of the seventeenth centui-y. According to Les- 
carbot, Poutrincourt spent fifteen days in a port on the south side. It had 
been formally taken possession of in the name of the French king. The first 
• onflict between the whites and natives occurred there; and in its sands were 
interred the remains of the first Chi-istian who died witliin the ancient limits 
of New England.' 

The assault of the natives on De Poutrincourt is believed to have occur- 
red at Chatham, ironically named by the French Port Fortune, in remem- 
brance of their mishaps there. It was the very first collision i-ecorded be- 
tween Europeans and savages in New England. Five of De Poutrincourt's 
men having slept on shore contrary to orders, and without keeping any 
Avatch, the Indians fell on them at day-break, October 15tli, 1606, killing two 
outright. Tlie rest, who were shot through and through with arrows, ran 
down to the shore, crying out, "Help! tliey are murdering us!" the savages 
])Ui"Suiiig with frightful whoopings. 

Hearing these outcries and the appeal for help, the sentinel on board the 
bark gave the alarm: "^Aux amies! they are killing our peo])le !" Housed 
by the signal, those on board seized their arms, and ran on deck, without 
taking time to dress themselves. Fifteen or sixteen threw themselves into 
the shallop, without stopping to light their matches, and pushed for the shore. 
Finding they could not reach it on account of an intervening sand-bank, they 
leaped into the water and waded a musket-shot to land. De Poutrincourt, 
Champlain, Daniel Hay, Robei't Grave the younger, son of Du Pont Grave, 
and the younger Poutrincourt, with their trumpeter and apothecary, were of 
the party tliat rushed pell-mell, almost stark naked, upon the savages. 

The Indians, perceiving the rescuing band within a bow-shot of them, took 
to flight. It was idle to pursue those nimble-footed savages; so the French- 
)nen bi'ought their dead companions to the foot of the cross they had erected 
on the preceding day, and there buried them. While chanting the funeral 
prayers and orisons of the Church, the natives, from a safe distance, shouted 
derisively and danced to celebrate their treason. After their funeral rites 
were ended the French voyagers silently returned on board. 

In a few hours, the tide being so low as to prevent the whites from land- 
ing, the natives aixain a]>peared on the shore. They threw down the cross, 
disinterred the bodies of the slain Frenchmen, and stripped them before the 
eyes of their exasperated comrades. Several shots were fired at them from 

^ One of De Monts's men ("?<n charpentier Maloin'') was killed here in 1G05 by the natives. 
In attempting to recover a kettle one of tliem had stolen, he was transfixed with arrows. 



PROVINCETOWN. 



309 



the Lronze gun on board, the natives at every dischai-ge throwing themselves 
Hut on their faces. As soon as the French could land, they again set up the 
cross, and reinterred the dead. The natives, for the second time, tied to a dis- 
tance.' 

Proviucetown was originally part of Truro. Its etymology explains that 
its territory belonged to the province of Massachusetts. The earliest inhab- 
itants had no other title than possession, and their conveyance is by quit- 
claim. For many years the place experienced the alternations of thrift and 
decay, being at times well-nigh deserted. In 1749, says Douglass, in his 
"Summary," the town consisted of only two or three settled families, two or 
three cows., and six to ten sheep. The houses i'ormerly stood in one range, 
witliout regularity, along the beach, with the drying -flakes around them. 





WASUINU risu. 

Fishing vessels were run upon the soft sand, and their cargoes thrown into 
the water, where, after being washed free from salt, the fish were taken up 
and carried to the flakes in hand-barrows. Cape Cod Harbor, by which 
name it is also familiar to the readers of Pilgrim chronicles, was the earliest 
name of Proviucetown. 

The place has now lost the peculiar character it owed to the windmills on 



' Lesearbot adds that the natives, turning theiv backs to the vessel, threw the sand with botii 
hands toward them from between tlieir buttocks, in derision, yelling like wolves. 



310 • THE NEW ENGLAND COA^. 

the sandy heights above the town and the salt-works on the beach before it. 
The streets, described by former writers as impassable, by reason of the deep 
sand, I found no difficulty in traversing. What with an admixture of clay, 
and a top-dressing of oyster-shells and pebble, brought from a distance, they 
have managed to make their principal thoroughfares solid enough. Step 
aside from these, if you would know what Provincetown was like in the 
past. 

If the streets were better than I had thought, the houses were far bet- 
ter. The great number of them were of wood, looking as most New En- 
gland houses look — ready for the torch. They usually had underpinnings of 
brick, instead of being, as formerly, built on posts, in order that the sand might 
blow underneath them. There were willows, poplars, locusts, and balm of 
Gilead, standing about in odd corners, and of good size. I saw a few sickly 
fruit-trees that appeared dying for lack of moisture ; and some enterprising 
citizens were able to make a show of lilacs, syringas, ])inks, and geraniums in 
their front yards. I talked with them, and saw that the unremitting struggle 
for life that attended the growth of these few simple flowers seemed to increase 
their love for them, and enlarge their feeling for what was beautiful. All 
the earth they have is imported. I called to mind those Spanish vineyards, 
where the ])easant carries a hamper of soil up the sunny slopes of the mount- 
ain-sides, and in some crevice of the rocks plants his vine. 

There are two principal streets in Provincetown. One of, I should imag- 
ine, more than a mile in length, runs along the harbor; the other follows an 
elevated ridge of the sand-hills, and is parallel with the first. A plank-walk 
is laid on one side of the avenue by the shore, the other side being occupied 
by stores, fish-houses, and wharves. No sinister meaning is attached to walk- 
ing the plank in Provincetown ; for what is the whole Cape if not a gang- 
plank pushed out over the side of the continent? 

Where the street on the ridge is cari'ied across gaps among the hills, the 
retaining walls were of bog-peat, which was also laid on the sides of those 
hills exposed to the force of the wind. Whortleberry, bayberry, and wild 
rose were growing out of the interstices. They flourish as well as when the 
Pilgrims were here, .though all the primitive forest disappeared long ago. I 
ascended the hill on wiilch the town-hall building stands. You must go up 
the town road, or break the law, as I saw, by the straggling footpaths, the 
youngsters were in the habit of doing. Read sand for scoria?, and the fate of 
Herculaneum seems itnjtending over Provincetown, The safeguards taken to 
prevent the hills blowing down upon it impresses the stranger with a sense 
oi" insecurity, though the inhabitants do not seem much to mind it. I have 
heard that in exposed situations on the Cape window-glass becomes opaque 
by reason of the frequent sand-blasts rattling against the panes. 

On the hill was formerly a windmill, having the flyers inside, so resem- 
bling, say the town annalists, a lofty tower. It was a famous landmark for 



PRO VINC ETOWN. 3 1 1 

vessels making the port. The cliart-makers have now replaced it with the 
town hall, and every mariner steering for Proviucetown has an eye to it. 

The harbor is completely land-locked. There is good anchorage for ves- 
sels of the largest class. Ofttimes it is crowded with shipping seeking a ha- 
ven of refuge. This morning there were perhajjs fifty sail, of every kind of 
craft. An inward-bound vessel must steer around every point of the compass 
before the anchor is let go in safety. In the Revolution the port was made 
use of by the British squadrons, to refit, and procure water.' The tide flows 
on the bay side of the Cape about twenty feet, while at the back of it there 
is a flow of only five or six feet. 

The town is of extreme length, compared with its breadth, being con- 
tracted between the range of high sand-hills behind it and the beach. It lies 
fronting the south-east, bordering the curve of the shore, which sweeps grand- 
ly around half the circumference of a circle on the bay side. In one direction 
extends the long line of shore. If Boston be your starting-point, you must 
travel a hundred and twenty miles to get fifty ; and, by the time you arrive 
at the extremity of the Cape, should be able to box the compass. Looking 
south, Long Point terminates the land view. Following Avith the eye the 
outline of the hook, it rests an instant on the shaft of the light-house at 
Wood End, the extreme southerly point of the Cape. Thence the coast trends 
north-west as fir as Race Point, which is shut out from view by intervening 
hills. Race Point is the outermost land of the Cape. All these names are 
well known to mariners, the world over. 

Tlie shores are bordered Avith dangerous bars and shallows. As shipping 
could not get up to the town, the town has gone ofi" to it, in the shape of a 
wharf of great length. Our Pilgrim ancestors had to wade a " bow shoot " 
to get, on diy land. A resident told me that with fishing-boots on I could 
cross to the head of Herring Cove at low tide. Assuredly, it is one of the 
most wondei'ful of havens, and little likely to be dispensed with, even if the 
vexed question of 

"A way for ships to shape, 
Instead of winding round the Cape 
A short-cut through the collar" 

be answered by a ship-canal from Barnstable to Buzzard's Bay.* 

On the summit of Town Hill you are almost astride the Cape, having the 
Atlantic on one side, and Massachusetts Bay in full view on the other. The 
port is not what it was when some storm-tossed bark, in accepting its shel- 
ter, was the town talk for months. Ships come and go by scores and hun- 



' Hubbard relates a terrific storm here. See "New England," p. G44. In 1813 there was a 
naval engagement at Provincetown. 

^ General Knox was interested in this project. Lemuel Cox, the celebrated bridge architect, 
was engaged in cutting it. 



312 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 

dreds, folding their wings and settling down on the water like weary sea- 
gulls. 

With an outward appearance of prosperity, I found the people bemoaning 
the hard times. Taxes, they said, were twenty dollars in the thousand, and 
only ten at Wareham ; fish were scarce, and prices low, too, though as to 
the last item consumei's think otherwise. The fishermen I saw were burly, 
athletic fellows, apparently not more thrifty than their class everywhere. 
They are averse to doing any thing else than fish, and, if the times are bad, 
are content to potter about their boats and fishing -gear till better days, 
much as they would wait for wind and tide. If they can not go fishing they 
had as lief do nothing, though want threatens. 

The boys take to the water by instinct. I saw one adrift in a boat with- 
out oars, making his way to land by tilting the side of the dory. They go to 
the fishing-banks with their fathers, and can hand, reef, and steer with an old 
salt. One traveler tells of a Provinceto'wn cow-boy who captured and killed 
a blackfish he descried near the shore. As soon as they had strength to pull 
in a fish, they were put on board a boat. 

I noticed the familiar names that have been transplanted and thriven ev- 
erywhere. Those of Atwood, Nickerson, Newcomb, Rich, Ryder, Snow, and 
Doane have the Cape ring about them. In general they are "likely" men, 
as the phrase here is, getting on as might be expected of a people who liter- 
ally cast their bread upon the waters, and live on a naked crust of earth that 
the sea is forever gnawing and growling at. The girls are pretty. I say it 
on the authority of an expert in such matters who accompanied me. Not all 
are sandy-haired. 

There is a strong dash of humor about these people. They are piquant 
Capers, dry and sharp as the sand. One of them was relating that he h^d 
once watched for so long a time that he finally fell asleep while crossing the 
street to his boarding-house, and on going to bed had not waked for twenty- 
four hours. " Wa'al," said an old fellow, removing a short pipe from betw^een 
his lips, " you was jest a-cannin' on it up, warn't ye?" 

There is quite a colony of Portuguese in Provincetown. In my rambles 
I met with a band of them returning from the swamp region back of the 
town. They looked gypsy-like M'ith their swarthy fiices and gleaming eyes. 
The younger women had clear olive complexions, black eyes, and the elon- 
gated Madonna faces of their race; the older ones were grisly and witch-like, 
with shriveled bodies and wrinkled faces. All of them bore bundles of fag- 
ots on their heads that our tender women would have sunk under, yet they 
did not seem in the least to mind them. They chattered merrily as they 
passed by me, and I watched them until out of sight; for, picturesque objects 
anywhere, here they were doubly so. They liad all gaudy handkerchiefs 
tied about their lieads, and shawls worn sash-wise, and knotted at the hip, the 
bright bits of warm color contrasting kindly with the dead white of the sand. 



PROVINCETOWN. 



313 



There were shapely figures among tliem, but the men's boots they of necessi- 
ty wore subtracted a little from the symmetry of outline and my admiration. 

They number about fifty families — these Portuguese — and are increasincr. 
One citizen expressed a vague apprehension lest they should exclude, event- 
ually, the whites, as the whites had expelled the Indians. And why not? 
They believe in large families, while we believe in small ones or none at all. 
The Pilgrims were fewer than they when they came to Cape Cod, thouirli 
they did believe in large families. Besides, Gaspard Cortereal, a "Portin- 
gale," fell in with the land hereabouts before any of our English. The Portu- 
guese are reported to have stocked Sable Island with domestic animals thir- 
ty years before Gilbert's coming to Newfoundland.' Assuredly, Cortei'eal 
had as good a mortgage on the country as Cabot, who did not land, but only 
beheld it in sail- 
ing by. I had 
found the town 
eftervescent. The 
killing of a Portu- 
guese by his cap- 
tain, in a quarrel 
on board a fish- 
ing vessel, had set 
the whole town 
talking. Coming 
from the city, 
where we avei"- 
age a murder a 
week, I was quite 
startled at the 
measure of hor- 
ror and indigna- 
tion the deed ex- 
cited here. Sub- 
sequently I learned that such crimes were rare, and that in this out-of-the-way 
corner of the land people had quite old-foshioned notions about the value of 
human life and limb. 

The cod and mackerel fisheries have been the making of Provincetown, 
though they comi)lained of dull times when I was there, the fleet not number- 
ing more than fifty or sixty sail. Some schooners go whaling to the Gulf of 
Mexico, Western Islands, or far up the north coast; but the fares there are 
poor, they say, and growing poorer. The first mackerel exhibited in the 
spring in Boston market are taken in Provincetown Harbor. 




= ' ^EII^ ^aLr--'*^' ~=^^'^^^*g'^= ?= ?^fe^*^^^Cf^^^ ^ ^ff ^^^^^^^^^^^S-'^^^'*' — 



MACKEUEL. — A FAMILY GKOUF. 



' Champlain confirms this. 



314 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 

Former ti'avelers have observed that the art as weW as the name of hay- 
making '.vas applied to tlie curing of the cod here, the iisli, when made, being 
stacked in tlie same manner. Cattle are reported to have sometimes eaten 
them in lieu of salt hay. When the fishing season was at its height, it muat 
have been something to have seen — the length and breadth of the town over- 
spread with cod-fish, occupying the front yards and intervals between the 
houses. A goodwife then, instead of going to the garden for vegetables, 
would bring in a cod-fish from the flakes. Then the hook was well baited. 

I sui)pose the phrase " cod-fish aristocracy " did not originate on the Cape, 
but may have a more ancient beginning than is generally believed, as the 
Dutch were, in the j^ear 134'7, engaged in a civil war which lasted many 
years, the rival parties being called "Hooks" and "Cod-fish," respectively. 
The former supported Margaret, Countess of Holland ; the latter, William, 
her son. 

Champlain relates that the Indians, in this bay, fished for cod with lines 
made of bark, to which a bone hook was attached, the bone being fashioned 
like a harpoon, and fastened to a piece of wood with what he believed to be 
hemp, such as they had in France. Bass, blue-fish, and sturgeon were taken 
by spearing. 

A fish dinner is eaten at least once a week by every family in New En- 
gland. In Catholic countries the supply of dried fish is usually exhausted by 
the end of Lent. We have seen that Bradford received a Jesuit at his own 
table, and regaled him with a fish dinner because it was Friday, a piece of 
old-time courtesy some would have us think the Pilgrims incapable of. Some- 
what later they had a law in Massachusetts banishing Jesuits or other Roman 
Catholic ecclesiastics out of their jurisdiction on pain of death. 

In effect, the cod-fish is to New England what roast beef is to old Albion. 
The likeness of one is hanging in the State-house at Boston, as the symbol of 
a leading Massachusetts industry. Down East the girls carry bits of it in their 
pockets, and it is set on the bar-room counters for luncheon. A Yankee can 
latten on it where an Englishman would starve. The statement is fortified 
by what we call the truth of history. 

In 1714 her Majesty of England concluded a peace with her restless neigh- 
bor across the Channel ; or, as Pope rhymes it, 

"At length great Anna said, 'Let discord cease;' 
She said, the world obey'd, and all was peace." 

This was the famous treaty that Matthew Prior, the negotiator- poet, calls 
*' the d — d Peace of Utrecht." Prior went to Paris with Bolingbroke. Hav- 
ing arrived there during Lent, he was, by an edict, permitted to have roast 
beef as a mark of royal favor, and on, I presume, his own application. I res- 
cue this morceau from the abyss of state archives: 

"Nous Baron de Breteuil et de Preuilly, premier Baron de Touraine, Con' 



I 



PROVINCETOWN. 



315 



du Roy en ses Conseils, Introducteur des Ambassadeurs et Princes Etrangeres 
pves de Sa Ma"^; Eiijoignons au Bouclier de I'llutel de Dieu de fournir pen- 
dant le Careme an prix ordinaire, suivant I'ordre du Roy, toute la viande de 
Boucherie, et Rotisserie qui sera necessaire pour la subsistance de la niaison 
de plenipotentiaire de la Reyne de la Grande Bretagne, M. Prioi-.'" 

If the great staple of New England is so firmly associated with the Cape, 
its claims in another direction deserve also to be remembered. Tlie whale- 
fishery of New England had its begiiniing here. The hook caught those 
leviathans as the Penobscot weirs catch salmon. It was long afterward that 
Nantucket bristled with harpoons. That sea-girt isle borrowed her art of 
the Cape, and induced a professor in whale-craft, Ichabod Paddock by name, 
to come over and teach it to her. The Pilgrims would have begun on the 
instant, but they had not the gear. The Indians followed it in their primi- 
tive way, and the exploring parties saw them stripping blubber from a strand- 
ed blackfish exactly as now practiced. 






POND VILLAGE, CAPE COD. 

During the years the whales swam along the shore by Cape Cod there 
was good fishing in boats. Watchmen stationed on the hills gave notice by 
signals when one was in sight. After some time they passed farther off on 
the banks, and sloops carrying whale-boats were used. Cotton Mather refers 
to the fishery here. Douglass notes a whale struck on the back of Cape Cod 
that yielded one hundred and thirty-four barrels of oil. In 1739 six small 
whales were taken in Provincetown Harbor. In 1746 not more than three 
or four whales were taken on the Qdi\>Q. 

The first whalins; adventure to the Falkland Islands is referred to the 



' Prior was personally acceptable to Louis XIV., who gave him a diamond box with his por- 
trait. He was also well known to Boileau. 



316 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 

enterprise of two inhabitants of Truro, who received tlie hint from Admiral 
Montague, of the British nav}^ in 1774.' 

This admiral, commonly called "Mad Montague," was a character. There 
is an anecdote of his causing liis coxswain to put tlie hands of some drowned 
Dutch sailors in their pockets, and then betting fifty guineas to five they died 
thus. The only reminiscence of whaling that I saw in Provincetown was a 
gate-way formed of the ribs of a whale before the door of a cottage. Over 
the house-door was a gilded eagle, of wood, that had decorated some lucl<less 
craft. At the tavern the door was kept ajar by a curiously carved whale's 
tooth wedged underneath. My landlord, gray-haired, but still sti-aight and 
sinewy, remarked, as he saw me examining it, " I struck that fellow." 

But what I came to see here was the desei't, ami I had not yet seen it. 
Turning my back upon the town, I set out for Kace Point, three miles dis- 
tant. The last house I passed — and this was a slaughter-house — had the 
sign -board of a ship, the Plymouth Hock, nailed above the lintel. For a 
certain distance the path was easy to follow ; it then became obscure, and I 
finally lost it altogether; but the sea on the Atlantic side was always roaring 
a hoarse halloo. 

It was never before my fortune to thread so curious and at the same time 
so desolate a way as this. It filled up the pictures of my reading of the 
coasts of Barbary or of Lower Egypt. I first crossed a range of sand-hills 
thinly grown with beach-plum, whortleberry, brake, and sheep laurel, or wild 
rhododendron.^ Now and then tliere was a grove of stunted pitch-pines on 
the hill-sides, and upon descending I found the hollows occupied by swamps 
more or less extensive, where the gi'owth was denser and the stagnant water 
dotted with white blossoming lilies. There were also clumps of the fra- 
grant Avhite laurel in full bloom. In such places the bushes grew thickly, 
and I had to force my way through them. 

The largest of these sunken ponds is named Shank Painter. Seeing what 
a share they have in preserving Provincetown, I shall always respect a bog or 
a morass. Over on the shore, between Race Point and Wood End, they have 
Shank Painter Bar. Here and there in the swamp were clearings of an acre 
or two planted witli cranberry-vines, which yield a handsome return. It was 
blossoming-time, and the ground was starred with their delicate white flow- 
ers, having the corolla rolled back, as seen in the tiger-lily. I found ripe blue- 
berries growing close to the sand, and wild strawberries, of excellent flavor, 
on the borders of cranberry meadows. An account says, cows might once be 
seen " wading, and even swimming, in these ponds, plunging their heads into 
the water up to theii- liorns, picking up a scanty subsistence from the roots 

' Captain David Smith and Captain Gamaliel Collins. 

^ In old times a decoction of checkerbeny leaves was given to lambs poisoned by eating the 
young leaves of the laurel in spring. 



PROVINCETOWN. 



317 



and herbs produced in the water." I saw birch, maple, and a few otlier forest 
trees of stinted growth in the swamp, and stumps of very large pines that 
liad been, perhaps, many times covered and uncovered by sand.' 

Cranberry culture, already briefly alluded to, has become an important in- 
dustry on Cape Cod. It is pleasant to see the ])ickers busily gathering the 
fruit lor market, a laboi* performed almost wholly by females. An instru- 
ment called a cranberry-rake was formerly used; but as it bruised the fi'uit, it 
has been discarded for hand-picking. Very little outlay is necessary in the 
preparation of a cranberry-bed, and much less labor than is usual with ordi- 




^■<,-ife-.- ',>'/<,•?'/-« 



PICKING AND SORTING CKANBEKKIE& — CAPE COD. 

nary farm crops, while the return is much gi-eater. Here the visitor is aston- 
ished at seeing the vine producing abundantly in what appears to be pure 
white sand. These cranberry plantations are very profitable. Captain Henry 
Hull, of Barnstable, was one of the earliest cultivators on the Cape. 

Though it was raw and windy the marsh-flies bit shrewdly. After pass- 
ing over the first hills beyond Shank Painter, a very different scene present- 
ed itself. Here was a stretch of lofty mounds of clean Avhite sand, five miles 
in length and a mile and a half in breadth, bare of all vegetation, except 
scanty patches of beach grass. There was no longer a path, and though I 



' There is an authentic account of ice being found here on the 4th of July, 1741. 



318 



THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 



saw occasional foot-prints, I did not meet any one. A carriage would be of 
no use where a boi'se would suik to his knees in the sand. It was Equality 

___^ Lane, where pau- 

- ^^^fe ^r^ " per or millionaire 

" ^~ must trudge for 

it. In some places 
tlie sand was soft 
and yielding, and 
again it was so 
hard beaten by the 
wind that tlie foot- 
fall would scarcely 
leave an impres- 
sion. Scrambling 
to the summit of 
one of the highest 
hills, I found my- 
self overlooking a 
remarkable hol- 
low completely 
surrounded with 
sandy walls. A 
Bedouin might 
have been at home 
here, but ship- 
wrecked sailors 
would wander aim- 
lessly, until, caught in some such cul-de-sac, tliey gave up the ghost in de- 
spair. In wintry storms tlie route is impracticable. The tourist who has 
never been to Naples may here do Vesuvius in poco, taking care to empty 
his shoes after sliding from the top to the bottom of a sand-hill. 

The beach grass, I noticed, resembled the buffiilo grass of the plains. It 
grew at equal distances, even in spots where it had seeded itself. It is the 
sheet-anchor of the Cape ; for, now that the woods are nearly gone, there is 
nothing else to prevent this avalanche of sand from advancing and over- 
whelming every thing in its way. Why may not the cotton-wood, which prop- 
agates itself in the sand on the borders of Western rivers, prove a valuable 
auxiliary here? I have known a newly formed sand-bar in the Missouri be- 
come a well-wooded island in ten years. Tliere, the tree grows to a great 
size, and seems to care little for the kind of soil it gets. The poplar (of the 
same species) flourished well, I saw, in Provincetown and elsewhere on the 
Cape. The experiment is worth the trying. 

In Dr. Belknap's account of Provincetown, j^rinted in 1791, he says of this 




SAND-HILLS, PKOVINCETOWN. 



PROVINCETO WN. 3 j 9 

range of sand-liills : "Tliis volume of sand is gradually rolling into the woods 
witli the winds, and as it covers the trees to the tops, tliey die. The tops of 
the trees appear above the sand, but they are all dead. Where they have 
been lately covered the bark and twigs are still remaining; from others they 
have fallen oif ; some have been so long whipped and \vori\ out with the sand 
and winds that there is nothing remaining but the hearts and knots of the 
trees; but over the greater part of this desert ihe trees have long since dis- 
appeared." The tops of the dead trees mentioned by Dr. Belknap, the rem- 
nant of the forest seen here by the Pilgrims, have been cut ofl' for fuel, until 
few, if any, are to be seen. 

After crossing the wilderness, I came to the sliore. It was blowing half a 
gale, the sea being roughened by it, but not grand. There was but little diift, 
and tiiat such "unconsidered trifles" of the sea as the vertebra? of fishes, jelly- 
fish, a few tangled bunches of weed, and some pretty pebbles. Looking uj) 
and down the beach, I discovered one or two wreckers seeking out the night's 
harvest; and presently there came a cart in which were a man and woman, 
the man ever and anon jumping out to gather up a little bundle of drift-wood, 
Avith wliich he ran back to the cart, followed by a shaggy Newfoundland dog 
that barked and gamboled at his side. These wreckers claim Avhat they have 
discovered by placing crossed sticks upon the heap, the mark being respected 
by all who come after. 

I followed the bank by the verge of tlie beach, the tide having but just 
turned. Before me was the light-house, and the collection of huts at Race 
Point. A single vessel, bound for a Southern port, was in sight, that, after 
standing along, gunwale under, within half a mile of the shore, filled away on 
the other tack, rounding the point in good style. A hundred yards back of 
the usual high-water mark were well-defined lines of drift, indicating the limit 
where the sea in great storms had forced its way. I passed a group of huts, 
used perhaps at times by fishermen, and at others as a shelter for shipwrecked 
mariners. The doors were open, and, notwithstanding a palisade of barrel- 
staves, the sand had drifted to a considerable depth within. Here also were 
pieces of a vessel's bulwarks, the first vestiges of wreck I had seen. 

In 1802 the Humane Society erected a hut of refuge at the head of Stout's 
Creek; but it being improperly built with a chimney, and placed on a spot 
whei'e no beach grass grew, the strong winds blew tlie sand from its founda- 
tion, and the weight of tlie chimney bi'ought it to the ground. A few weeks 
later the ship Brutus was cast away. Had the hut remained, it is probable 
the whole of the unfortunate crew might have been saved, as they gained the 
shore within a few rods of the spot where it had stood. Ui)on such trifles 
the lives of men sometimes depend. 

The curvature of the shore south of Race Point, by which I was walking, 
is called Herring Cove. There is good anchorage here, and vessels may ride 
safely when the wind is from north-east to south-east. The sliore between 



320 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 

Race Point and Stout's Ci-cek, in Truro, was formerly considered the most 
dani^erous on the Cape. Since the erection of Race Point Light, disasters 
have been less frequent. An attempt to penetrate through the hills to Piov- 
incetown by night would be attended with danger, especially in the winter 
season, but by day the steeple of the Methodist church is always iu sight 
from the highest sand-hills. 

Freeman, in his " History of Cape Cod," relates an occurrence that hap- 
pened heriL '.Li i'.'22. A sloop from Duxbury, in which the Rev. John Robin- 
son and wife, and daughter Mary, had taken passage, was upset by a sudden 
tempest near Nantasket Beach, at the entrance of Boston Hai'bor. The body 
of Mrs. Robinson was found "in Herring Cove, a little within Race Point," 
by Indians, about six weeks after the event. It was identified by papers 
found in the stays, and by a gold necklace, that had been concealed from the 
natives by the swelling of the neck. A finger had been cut off, doubtless for 
the gold ring the unfortunate lady had worn. 

The winter of 1874-'75 will be memorable in New England beyond the 
present generation, the exti-eme cold having fast locked up a greater number 
of her harbors than was ever before known. Provincetown, that is so provi- 
dentially situated to receive the storm-tossed mariner, was hermetically seal- 
ed by a vast ice-field, which extended from Wood End to Manomet, a dis- 
tance of twenty-two miles, grasping in its icy embrace all intermediate shores 
and havens. In the neighborhood of Provincetown a fleet of fishing vessels 
that was unable to reach the harbor became immovably imbetlded in the 
fioe, thus realizing at our very doors all the perils of Arctic navigation. A 
few were released by the aid of a steam-cuttei', but by far the greater number 
remained helplessly imprisoned without other change than that caused by 
the occasional drift of the ice-floe in strong gales. 

The sight was indeed a novel one. Where before was the expnnse of blue- 
Avater, nothing could now be seen except the white slab, pure as marble, which 
entombed the harbors. All within the grasp of the eye was a Dead Sea. 
Flags of distress were displayed in every direction from the masts of crip- 
pled vessels that no help could reach. Their hulls, rigging, and tapering 
spars were so ice-crusted as to resemble ships of glass. As many as twenty 
signals of distress were counted at one time from the life-saving station at 
Provincetown. Some of these luckless craft were crushed and sunk to the 
bottom ; others were abandoned by their crews, who had eaten their last 
crust and burned the bulwarks of their vessels for fuel. The remainder were 
at length released by the breaking-up of the ice-floe, which only relaxed its 
grip after having held them fast for a month. 

It would not be extravagant to say that the beach on the ocean side, be- 
tween Highland Light and Wood End, was strewed with wi'ecks. Vessel after 
vessel was dashed into pieces by waves that bore great blocks of drift-ice to 
aid in the work of destruction, Ong starless morning the James Mommell 



PROVINCETOWX. 



321 



struck between Higliland Liglit and 
Race Point. Instantly the ice-laden 
surges leaped upon her decks. Wood 
and iron were crushed like paper un- 
der the blows of sea and ice. Tiie help- 
less vessel was forced sidewise toward 
the beach, where the waves began heap- 
ing up the loose sand on the leeward 
side, until it reached as high as her 
decks. When the vessel struck, the 
crew clambered up the rigging, and 
all were saved, in a perishing condi- 
tion, with the help of rescuing hands 
from the life station. One poor fellow 
dropped dead on the shore he had ^ 
periled life to gain, a frozen corpse. ^ 
In twenty - four hours there was no > 
more left of the James Rommell than % 

could be carried away in the wreck- "^ 

o 
ers carts. -^ 

But saddest of all was the loss ^ 

of the Italian bark Giovanni. After S 

eighty-one days of stormy voj'age from ° 

Palermo, a terrible gale, which tore the g 

frozen sails in shreds from her masts, ^ 

drove lier upon this dangerous coast. '< 

In the midst of a blinding snow-storm, > 

the unmanageable vessel was borne ^ 

. t-' 

steadily and mercilessly upon the shore. 5 

When she struck, the shock brought 

down portions of her rigging, leaving 

her a dismantled M'reck. Her crew 

could see people moving about on the 

beach, but no human power could aid 

them. Soon the Giovanni began to 

sink into the sandy grave the waves 

were fast digging to receive her hull, 

and the seas sweeping her decks raged 

around the rigging, in which the sailors 

had taken refuge. One by one they 

were picked off by the waves. Tlie 

wreckers' bombs failed to bring a line 

to them. A few of the ship's company 




322 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 

made a desperate push for the beach, which only one readied alive. All 
night long the wreckers kept their watch by tlie shore, hoping the gale 
might abate; but sea and wind beat and liowled as wildly as before. .When 
it was light enough ttf descry the Giovanfii, six objects could be seen cling- 
ing in the rigging. The ship, it was perceived, was last breaking up. God 
help tliem, for no other could ! The spectators saw these poor fellows perish 
before their eyes. They saw the overstrained masts bend and shiver and 
break, crashing in ruin down upon the shattered hull. The next day only a 
piece of the bow remained, sticking up like a grave-stone on the reef. 

Of the Giovanni's crew of tifteen only the one mentioned escaped. He 
could not speak a syllable of English, but was able, by signs, to identify the 
body of his captain, when it came ashore. The other bodies that came in 
were laid out in Provincetown church, three miles from the scene of the 
wreck. Stray portions of the ship's cai-go of wine and fruit were washed 
np, and while any of the former was to be had the beach was not safe to be 
traversed. In the midst of this cai'nival of death, men druidc with wine wan- 
dered up and down in the bitter cold, intent upon robbery and violence. One 
or more of these beach pirates were found dead, the victims of their own de- 
bauch. 

The configuration of the shores of the Cape on the Atlantic side is very 
different from what was observed by early voyagers. The \Av Xauset of 
Smith has, for more than a century, been " wiped out'' by the iea.' Inlets to 
liarbors have in some cases been closed and othc. i;:'ss:ig."s opened, as at East- 
ham and Orleans. In 186-'] remains of rlie hull of an aacient ship were uncov- 
ered at Xauset Beacli in Orleans, imbedded in the mud of a meadow a quarter 
of a mile from any water that would have floated her. Curiosity was aroused 
by the situation as well as the singular build of the vessel, and what was left 
of her was released from the bed in which, it is believed, it had been inclosed 
for more than two centuries. A careful writer considers it to have been the 
wreck of the Sparrow-hawk, mentioned by Bradford as having been stranded 
here in 1G2G.' 

There are generally two ranges of sand-bars on the ocean side of the Cape ; 
the outward being about three-fourths of a mile from shore, and the inner 
range five hundred yards. As in the case of the ill-fated Giovanni, a vessel 
usually brings up on the outer bar, and pounds over it at the next tide, mere- 
ly to encounter the inward shoal. Between these two ranges a tremendous 
■cross-sea is always running in severe gales, and, if the wind has continued 

' When the English first settled upon the Cape there was an island oft' Chatham, three leagues 
•distant, called Webb's Inland. It contained twenty acres, covered with red-cedar or savin. The 
Nantucket people resorted to it for fire- wood. In 1792, as Dr. Morse relates, it had ceased to 
exist for nearly a century. "A large rock," he says, "that was upon the island, and which settled 
as the earth washed awdy, now marks the place." 

" Amos Otis, in the "New England Historical and Genealogical Register," 1865. 



PROVINCETOWN. 



.'•123 



long from the same quarter, causing also a current that will float the debris 
of a wreck along the shore faster than a man can walk. With the wind at 
south-east the wreck stuff will not land, but is carried rapidly to the nortli- 
west. Shipwrecked mariners have to cross this hell gate to reach the beach. 
The mortars used at the life-stations will not carry a life-line to a vessel at five 
hundred yards from the shore in the teeth of a gale, and are therefore useless 
at that distance; but if the wreck is fortunate enough to be lifted over the 
inner bar by the sea, it will strike the beach at a distance where it is practica- 
ble to save life under ordinary contingencies. So great are the obstacles to 
be overcome on this shore, that there is no part of the New England coast, 
Nantucket perhaps excepted, where a sailor would not rather sufter shii)vvreck. 
Standing here, I felt as if I had not lived in vain. I was as near Europe 
as my legs would carry me, at the extreme of this withered arm with a town 
in the hollow of its hand. You seem to have invaded the domain of old Nep- 
tune, and plucked him by the very beard. For centuries the storms have 
beaten upon this narrow strip of sand, behind which the commerce of a State 
lies intrenched. The assault is unflagging, the defense obstinate. Fresh col- 
umns are always forming outside for the attack, and the roll of ocean is for- 
ever beating the charge. Yet the Cape stands fast, and will not budge. It is 
as if it should say, "After me the Deluge." 




A "SUNFISn." 




NANTUCKliT, i'itUM TUE bliA. 



CHAPTER XX. 

NANTUCKET. ^ 

"God bless the sea-beat island! 
And grant for evermore 
That charity and freedom dwell, 

As now, npon her shore." — Whittier, 

THE sea-port of Nantucket, every body knows, rose, flourished, and fell 
with the whale-fishery. It lies snugly ensconced in the bottom of a bay 
on the north side of the island of the name, with a broad sound of water be- 
tween it and the nearest main-land of Cape Cod. The first Englishman to 
leave a distinct record of it was Captain Dermer, who was here in 1620, 
though Weymouth probably became entangled among Nantucket Shoals in 
May, 1605. The relations of Archer and Bi-ereton render it at least doubtful 
whether this island was not the first on which Gosnold landed, and to which 
he gave the name of Martha's Vineyard. The two accounts are too much at 
variance to enable the student to bring them into reciprocal agreement, yet 
that of Archer, being in tlie form of a diary, in which each day's transactions 
are noted, will be preferred to the narrative of Brereton, who wrote from rec- 
ollection. To these the curious reader is referred.' 

The name of "Nautican" is the first I have found applied to Nantucket 



' Purchas, iv. ; reprinted in "Massachusetts Historical Collections," iii., viii. I can not give 
space to those points that confirm my view, but they make a strong presumptive case. It has 
been alleged that De Poutrincourt landed here after his conflict with the Indians of Cape Cod. So 
far from landing on the island they saw, Champlain says they named it "Za Soupgonneuse" from 
the doubts they had of it. Lescarbot adds that "they saw an island, six or seven leagues in length, 
which they were not able to reach, and so called '7/e Douteuse. ' " The land, it is probable, was 
the Vineyard. 



NANTUCKET. 



325 



Island.' Whether the derivation is from the Latin nauticus, or a corruption 
of tlie Indian, is disputed, though the word lias an unmistakably Indian sound 
and construction.'* In the patents and other documents it is called Nantukes, 
Mantukes, or Nautucquet Isle, indifferently, showing, as may be suggested, as 
many eftorts to construe good Indian into bad English. Previous to Gos- 
nold's voyage the English had no knowledge of it, nor were the names he 




MAP OF CAPE COD, NANTUCKET, AND MARTHA S VINEYAHD. 

gave the isles discovered by him in general use until long afterward. One 
other derivation is too far-fetched for serious consideration, a mere Jeu de moty 
to which all readers of Gosnold's voyage are insensible. Historians and an- 
tiquaries having alike failed to solve these knotty questions, it is proposed 



' By Sir F. Gorges. 

' Nautasket, Namasket, Naushon, Sawtuckett, are Indian. 



326 



THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 



to refer them to a council of Spiritualists, with power to send for persons and 
papers. 

Those who wish to enjoy a foretaste of crossing the British Channel may 
liave it by going to Nantucket, The passage affords in a marked degree the 
peculiarities of a sea-voyage, and, in rough weather, is not exempt from its 
drawbacks. The land is nearly, if not quite, lost to view. You are on the real 
ocean, and the remainder of the voyage to Europe is merely a few more revo- 
lutions of the paddles. You have enjoyed the emotions incident to getting 
under way, of steering boldly out into the open sea, and of tossing for a few 
hours upon its billows: the rest is but a question of time and endurance. 

Every one is prepossessed with Nantucket. Its isolation from the world 
surrounds it with a mysterious haze, that is the more fascinating because it 
exacts a certain faith in the invisible. Inviting the imagination to depict it 
for us, is far more interesting than if we could, by going down to the shore, 
see it any day. In order to get to it we must steer by the compass, and in 
thick weather look it up with the plummet. In brief, it answers many of the 
conditions of an undiscovered country. Although laid down on every good 
map of New England, and certified by the relations of many trustworthy 
writers, it is not enough ; we do not know Nantucket. 




APPKOACH TO MAKTHA'S VINEYAKD. 



No brighter or sunnier day could be wished for than the one on which 
the Island Home steamed out from Wood's Hole into the Vineyard Sound for 
the sea-girt isle. Besides the usual complement of health and pleasure seek- 
ei'S was a company of strolling players, from Boston, as they announced them- 
selves — a very long way indeed, I venture to affirm. These " abstracts and 
brief chronicles of the time " were soon " well bestowed " on the cabin sofas, 
the rising sea making it at least doubtful whether they would be able to per- 
form before a Nantucket audience so soon as that night. From the old salt 



NANTUCKET. 327 

who rang the bell and urged immediate attendance at the captain's office, 
to the captain himself, with golden rings in his ears, and the Indian girl who 
officiated as stewardess, the belongings o1^ the Island Ilotne afloat were spiced 
with a novel yet agreeable foretaste of the island home fast anchored in the 
Atlantic. 

The sail across the Vineyard Sound is more than beautiful ; it is a poem. 
Trending away to the west, the Elizabeth Islands, like a gate ajar, half closei 
the entrance into Buzzard's Bay. Among them nestles Cuttyhuiik, where the 
very first English spade was driven into New England soil.' Straight over 
in front of the pathway the steamer is cleaving the Vineyard is looking its 
best and greenest, with oak-skirted highlands inclosing the sheltered harbor 
of Vineyard Haven,^ famous on all this coast. Edgartown is seen at the bot- 
tom of a deep indentation, its roofs gleaming like scales on some huge reptile 
that has crawled out of the sea, and is basking on tlie warm yellow sands. 
Chappaquiddick Island, with its sandy tentacles, terminates in Cape Poge, on 
which is a liglit-house. 

Between the shores, and as far as eye can discern, the fleet that passes 
almost without intermission is hurrying up and down the Sound. One col- 
umn stretches away under bellying sails, like a fleet advancing in line of bat- 
tle, but the van-guard is sinking beneath the distant waves. Still they come 
and go, speeding on to the appointed mart, threading their way securely 
among islands, capes, and shoals. Much they enliven the scene. A sea with- 
out a sail is a more impressive solitude than a deserted city. 

We ran between the two sandy points, long and low, that inclose the har- 
bor into smoother water. The captain went on the guard. "Heave your 
bow-line." "Ay, ay, sir." "Back her, sir" (to the pilot). "Hold on your 
spring." "Stop her." "Slack away the bow-line there." "Haul in." It 
is handsomely done, and this is Nantucket. 

The wharf, I should infer, would be the best place in which to take the 
census of Nantucket. No small proportion of the inhabitants were assem 
bled at the pier's head, waiting the arrival of the boat. You had first to 
make your way through a skirmishing line of hack-drivers and of boys eager 
to carry your luggage; then came the solid battalion of citizen idlers, and 
behind these was a reserve of carriages and carts. On the pier you gain the 
idea that Nantucket is po])ulous; that what you see is merely tlie overflow; 
whereas it is the wharf that is populous, while the town is for the moment 
well-nigh deserted. There could be no better expression of the feeling of iso- 
lation than the agitation produced by so simple an event as the an-ival of the 
daily packet. Doors are slammed, sliutters pulled to in a hurry, while a tide 
of curious humanity pours itself upon the landing-place. The coining stcam- 

f 
' In 1602 by the colony of Bartholomew Gosnold. already so often mentioned in these pages, 
" Better known as Holmes's Hole. 



328 



THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 




A BIT OF NANTUCKET — THE UOUSE-TOPS. 



er is heralded by the town-crier's fish-horn, as soon as descried from the 
church-tower that is his observatory. In winter, when communication with 
the main-land is sometimes interrupted for several days together, the sense of 
separation from the woi'ld must be intensified.^ 

After running tlie gantlet of the crowd on the wharf, the stranger is at 
liberty to look about hiin. 

The fire of 1846 having destroyed the business portion of the town, that 
part is not more interesting than the average New England towns of mod- 
ern growth. Generally speaking, the houses are of wood, the idea of spa- 
ciousness seeming prominent with the builders. Plenty of house-room was 
no doubt synonymous with plenty of sea-room in the minds of retired ship- 
masters, whose battered hulks I saw safe moored in snug and quiet harbors. 
The streets are cleanly, and, having trees and flower-gardens, are often pretty 
and cheerful. 

The roofs of many houses are surmounted by a railed platform, a reminder 
of the old whaling times. Here the dwellers might sit in the cool of the even- 
ing, and take note of the passing ships, or of some deep- laden whaleman 
with rusty sides and grimy spars wallowing toward the harbor. Here the 
merchant anxiously scanned tlie horizon for tidings of some loitering bark ; 
and here superannuated skippers paced up and down, as they had done the 
quarter-deck. I question if the custom was not first brought here from the 



" On the raising of the ice-bloct:ade of the past winter seventeen mails were due, the greatest 
number since 1857, when twenty-five regular and two semi-monthly mails were landed at Quidnet. 



NANTUCKET. 329 

tropics, for in Spanish-talkincj America the best room is not unfrequently 
the roof, to which the family resort on sweltei'ing hot nights. Sometimes a 
storm arises, when the precijntancy with wliich the sleepers gather up their 
pallets and seek a shelter is the more amusing if witnessed near day-break. 
Formerly every other liouse in Nantucket had one of these lookouts, or a 
vane at the gable-end, to show if the wind was lair for vessels homeward- 
bound. 

While other towns have increased, Nantucket for a length of time has 
stood still. I saw no evidences of squalid poverty or of actual want, though 
there was a stiiking absence of activity. The fire, of which they still talk, 
though it happened thirty years ago, can not be traced by such visible re- 
mindei-s as a mass of new buildings fitted into the burned space, or by a cor- 
don of old houses drawn around its charred edges. The disaster caused the 
loss of many handsome buildings, among them Trinity Church, a beautiful 
little edifice, having latticed windows. 

If there was no squalor obtruding itself upon the stranger, neither was 
there any display of ostentatious wealth. Thei-e were a few large square 
mansions of brick or wood, and even an aristocratic quarter, once known as 
India Row ; but, on the wliole, a remarkable equality existed in th'e houses 
of Nantucket. The old New England Gi-eek temple greets you fimiliarly 
here and there. I read on the sign-boards the well -remembered names of 
Coffin, Folger, Bunker, Macy, Starbuck, etc., that could belong nowhere else 
than here. Whenever I have seen one of them in some distant corner of 
the continent, I have felt like raising the island slogan of other times, "There 
she blows !" 

The Nantucket of colonial times was not more like the present than sail- 
ors in pigtails and liigh-crowned hats are like the close-crop])ed, wide-trow- 
sered tars of to-day. Houses were scattered about without the semblance of 
order. The streets had never any names until the assessment of the direct 
tax in the administration of President Adams. Common convenience divided 
the town into neighborhoods, familiarly known as "Up-in-Town," "West 
Cove," or "North Shore." An old traveler says tlie sti-anger foi'merly re- 
ceived direction to Elisha Bunker's Street, or David jMitchell's Street, or Tris- 
tram Hussey's Street. 

The average conversation is still interlarded with such sea phrases as 
"cruising about," "short allowance," "rigged out," etc. I heard one woman 
ask for the "bight" of a clothes-line. I had it from credible authority that a 
Cape Cod girl, when kissed, always presented the other cheek, saying, " You 
darsent do that again." A Nantucket lass would say, " Sheer off, or I'll split 
your mainsail with a typhoon." 

There is a story of a "cute" Nantucket skipper, who boasted he could tell 
where his schooner might be in the thickest weather, simply by tasting what 
the sounding-lead brought up. His mates resolved to put him to the test. 



330 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 

The lead was well greased, and thrust into a box of earth, " a parsnip bed," 
that had been brought on board before sailing. It was then taken down to 
the skipper, and he was requested to tell the schooner's position. At the first 

taste 

"The skipper stormed, and tore liis hair, 

Thrust on his boots, and roared to Harden, 
'Nantucket's sunk, and here we are 
Right over old Marm Hackett's garden!'" 

The streets avoid the fatal straight-line, though they are not remarkably 
crooked. In the business quarter they are paved with cobble-stones, showing 
ruts deeply worn by the commerce of other days. Grass Avas growing out of 
the interstices of the pavement, where once merchants most did congregate. 
One of the principal avenues is built along the brow of the sea-bluff, so that 
almost every house commands a broad sweep of ocean view. The sides of a 
great many houses were shingled, being warmer, as many will tell you, than 
if covered with clapboards. As in all maritime towns, the weather-vane is 
usually a fish, and that, of course, a whale. It is the first thing looked at in 
the morning by every male inhabitant of the island. Some of the lanes go 
reeling and twisting about in a remarkable manner. 

Nantucket was larger than I had expected. The best view of it is ob- 
tained from the side of Coatue. A single old windmill on the summit of a 
liill behind the town adds to its picturesqueness, and somewhat relieves the 
too-familiar outlines of roof and steeple. But what, in a place of its size, is 
most remarkable, is the almost total absence of movement. It impressed me, 
the time I was there, as uninhabited. There were no troops of joyous chil- 
dren by day, nor throngs of promenaders by night; all was listless and still. 
Here, indeed, was the town, but where were the people? I was not at all 
surprised when accosted by one who, like me, wandered and wondered, witli 
the question, "Does any body live in Nantucket?" In midwinter, said an 
old resident to me, you might have a hospital in the town market-]ilace with- 
out danger of disturbing any body. The noise of wheels rattling over the 
stony street is not often heard. 

Owing to tlie total loss of its great industry, the population of Nantucket 
is not greater than it was a hundred years ago, and not half what it was ear- 
ly in the century.* A large proportion of the houses, it would appear, were 
unoccupied; yet many that had long remained vacant were being thrown 
open to admit new guests, that are seeking 

"The breath of a new hfe — the liealing of the seas!" 

Old brasses were being furbished up, and cobwebs swept away by new 
and ruthless brooms. The town is being colonized from the main-land, and 

' In 1837 its popukition was 9048 ; it is now a little more than 4000. 



NANTUCKET. 331 

tliough the inhabitants welcome the change, tlie crust and flavor of orio-inal- 
ity can not survive it. Ah-eady the drift has set in : we may, perhaps, live 
to see a full-fledged lackey in Nantucket streets. 

The wharves show the same decay as in Salem and Plymouth, except that 
here all are about equally dilapidated and grass-grown. Not a whalino- ves- 
sel of any tonnage to be seen in Nantucket ! The assertion seems incredible. 
In 1834 there were seventy-three ships and a fleet of smaller craft owned on 
the isftmd. At this moment a brace of fishing schooners, called smacks, were 
the largest craft in the harbor. The dispersion of the shipping lias been like 
to that of the inhabitants. I have seen those old whale-ships, with their bluft' 
bows and flush decks, moored in a long line inside the Golden Gate. There 
they lay, rotting at their anchors, with topmasts struck, and great holes cut 
in their sides, big enough to drive a wagon right into their holds. To a lands- 
man they looked not unlike a fleet in array of battle. 

Others of these old hulks drifted into such ports as Acapulco and Panama,' 
where they were used for coaling the steamships of that coast; and at Sacra- 
mento I saw they had converted one into a prison-ship. The last of them re- 
maining in New England harbors Avere purchased by the Government, and 
sunk in rebel harbors, as unfit longer to swim the seas. It is not pleasant to 
think ho\v the last vestiges of a commerce that carried the fame of the island 
to the remotest corners of the earth have been swept from the face of the 
ocean. 

The whale-ship I was last on board of was the old Peri, of New London, 
that looked able to sail equally well bow or stern foremost. The brick ti-y- 
house, thick with soot, remained on deck, the water-butt was still lashed to 
the mizzen-mast. How she smelled of oil ! Her timbers were soaked with 
it, and, on looking down the hatchway, I could see it floating, in prismatic 
colors, on the surface of the bilge-water m her hold. Many a whale had 
been cut up alongside. Her decks were greasy as a butcher's block. 
Though her spars were aloft, she had a slipshod look that would have vexed 
a sailor beyond measure. The very manner in which the yards were crossed 
told as plainly of abandonment as unreeved blocks and slackened rigging be- 
tokened a careless indifference of her future. 

In the days of whaling, a different scene presented itself from that now 
seen on Nantucket wharves. Ships were then constantly going and coming, 
discharging their cargoes, or getting ready for sea. The quays were encum- 
' bered with butts of oil and heaps of bone. The smith was busy at his forge, 
the cooper beside himself with work. Let us step into the warehouse. Oil 
is everywhere. The counting-house ceiling is smeared withJt. The walls are 
hung with pictures of fiimous whalemen — in oil, of course — coming into port 
with flags aloft, and I know not how manj^ barrels under their hatches. See 
the private signal at the mizz'en, the foam falling from the bows, and bub- 
bling astern! A brave sight; but become unfrequent of late. 



THE NEW ENGLAND COAST, 




LAST OF THE WHALE-SHIPS. 



^ _-; On the walls are also models of 

fortunate ships, neatly lettered with 
their names and voyages. I have seen the head and tusks of the walrus af- 
fixed to them, as the head and antlers of the stag might grace the halls of 
the huntsmen of the land. A strip of whalebone ; maps or charts, smoke- 
blackened, and dotted with greasy finger-marks, indicating where ships 
had been spoken, or mayhap gone to Davy Jones's Locker; a South Sea 
javelin with barbed head, a war club and sheaf of envenomed arrows, or a 
paddle curiously carved, were the usual paraphernalia appropriate in such a 
place. 

In the store-room are all the supplies necessary to a voyage. There are 
harpoons, lances, and cutting spades, with a rifle or two for the cabin. Coils 
of rigging, and lines for the boats, with a thousand other objects belonging to 
the ship's outfitting, are not wanting. 

According to Langlet, the whale-fishery was first carried on by the Nor- 
wegians, in the ninth century. Up to the sixteenth century, Newfoundland 
and Iceland were the fishing-grounds. The use of bone was not known until 
1578; consequently, says an old writer, " no stays were worn by the ladies." 
The English commenced whaling at Spitzbergen in 1598, but they had been I 



NANTUCKET. 



333 




WHALING IN THE OLDEN TIME. 



preceded in those seas by the Dutch. As many as two thousand whales a 
year have been annually killed on the coast of Greenland. 

Champlain says that in liis time it was believed the whale was usually taken 
by balls fired from a can- 
non, and that several im- 
pudent liars had sustained 
this opinion to his face. 
The Basques, he contin- 
ues, were the most skill- 
ful in this fishery. Leav- 
ing their vessels in some 
good harbor, they man- |i 
ned their shallops with 
good men, well provided 
with lines a hundred and 
fifty fathoms in length, 
of the best and strongest 
hemp. These were at- 
taclied to the middle of the harpoons.' In each shallop was a harpooner, the 
most adroit and '■'■ dispos ^^ among them, who had the largest share after the 
master, inasmuch as his was the most hazardous office. The boats were pro- 
vided also Avith a number of partisans of the length of a half-pike, shod with 
an iron six inches broad and' very trenchant.^ 

When at Provincetown, I referred to the beginning of the whale-fishery of 
Xantucket. Ichabod Paddock, in 1690, instructed the islanders how to kill 
whales from the shore in boats. The Indians of the island joined in the chase, 
and were as dexterous as any. Early in the eighteenth century small sloops 
and schooners of thirty or forty tons burden were fitted out, in which the 
blubber, after being first cut in large square pieces, was bi'ought home, for 
trying out. In a few years vessels of sixty to eighty tons, fitted with try- 
works, were employed. 

Douglass gives some additional particulars. About 1746, he says, whaling 

' The Dutch also whaled with long ropes, as is now our method. 

^ Weymouth also describes the Indian manner of taking whales: "One especial thing is their 
manner of killing the whale, which they call powdawe ; and will describe iiis form ; how he bloweth 
up the water ; and that he is twelve fathoms long ; and that they go in company of tiieir King, with 
a multitude of their boats, and strike him with a bone made in the fashion of a harping-iron, fas- 
tened to a rope, which they make great and strong of the bark of trees, which they veer out after 
him ; that all their boats come about him, and as he riseth above water, with tlieir arrows they shoot 
liim to death. When they have killed him and dragged him to shore, they call all their chief lords 
together, and sing a song of joy ; and these chief lords, whom they call sagamores, divide the spoil, 
and give to every man a share, which pieces so distributed they hang up about their houses for 
l)rovision ; and when they boil them, they blow otf the fat, and put to their pease, maize, and other 
pulse which they eat. — "Weymouth's Voyage." 



334 



THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 




WHALE OF THE ANCIENTS. 



was by sloops or schooners, eacli carrying two boats and thirteen men. In 
every boat were a harpooner, steersman, and four oarsmen, who used nooses 

for their oars, so tliat by letting them 
go they would trail alongside when 
they were fast to a whale. The "fast" 
was a rope of about twenty-five fath- 
oms, attached to a drag made of piank, 
about two feet square, with a stick 
through its centre. To the end of this 
stick the tow-roj)e of fifteen fathoms 
was fastened.' 

It passes without challenge that the 
isle's men were the most skillful whale- 
men in the world. The boys, as soon 
as they could talk, made use of the Indian word "townor," meaning, "I have 
twice seen the whale;" and as soon as able they took to the oar, becoming 
expert oarsmen. Language Avould inadequately express the ti'iumph of the 
youngster who landed in his native town after having struck his first whale. 
The Indian v/ho proudly exhibits his first scalp could not rival him. Thus it 
happens that you suppose every man in Nantucket can handle the harpoon, 
and every woman the oar. Nor was it in whaling battles alone that the 
island prowess made itself famous. Reuben Chase, midshipman of the^c;i?<e 
Homme Richard in the battle with the Sercqyis^ became, under Mr. Cooper's 
hand, Long Tom Coftin of "Tiie Pilot." 

The Revolution was near giving the death-blow to Nantucket. In Feb- 
ruary, 1775, Lord North brought in his famous bill to resti-ain the trade and 
commerce of New England with Great Britain and her dependencies, and to 
prohibit their fishery on the Ban.ks of Newfoundland.^ It was represented 
to Parliament that of the population of the islands, amounting to some thou- 
sands, nine-tenths were Quakers; that the land was barren, but by astonish- 
ing industry one hundred and forty vessels were kept employed, of which all 
but eight were engaged in the whale-fishery.^ 

The inhabitants having been exempted from the restraining act of Parlia- 
ment, the Continental Congress, in 1775, took steps to prevent the export of 
provisions to the island from the main-land, except what might be necessary 
for domestic use. The Provincial Congress of Massachusetts also prohibited 
the export of pi'ovisions until full satisfaction was given that they were not 
to be used for foreign consumption.^ These precautions were necessary, be- 
cause the enemy's ships made the island a rendezvous. 



' Nantucket in 1744 had forty sloops and schooners in the whale-fishery. The catch was seven 
thousand to ten thousand barrels of oil per annum. There were nine hundred Indians on the isl- 
and of great use in the fishery. — Douglass, vol. i., p. 40r>. 

' State papers. ^ Gordon, vol. i., p. 463. * Records of Congress. 



NANTUCKET. 



335 



Some stigma has attached to the Nantucket Friends for tlieir want of 
patriotism in tlie Revolution. They were perhaps in too great liaste to ap- 
ply for the protection of the crown to suit the temper of the day. Justice 
to their position requires the impartial historian to state that they were at 
the mercy of the enemy's fleets. They were virtually left to shift for them- 
selves, and ought not to be censured for making the best terms ])ossible. 
At the close of hostilities their commerce was, in fact, nearly destroved. 
Starved by their friends, now become their enemies, and robbed by their 
enemies, of whom they had sought to make friends, they were in danger of 
being ground between the upper and nether millstones of a hard destiny. 

I well enough remember the first sight I had of whale - ships on their 
cruising-grounds ; of the watchmen in their tubs at the mast.- head, where 
they looked like strange birds in strange nests; and of the great whales that 
rose to breathe, casting fountains of spray high in the air. They seemed not 
more animated than the black hull of a vessel drifting bottom-up, and roll- 
ing lazily from side to side, until, burying their huge heads deeper, a monster 
tail was lifted into view, remained an instant motionless, and then, following 
the rolling plunge of the unwieldy body, sunk majestically beneath the wave. 

The curious interest with which, from the deck of a matter-of-fact stenm- 
ship, I had watched the indolent gambols and puffings of the school, had 
caused me to lose sight of the whaleman, until an extraordinary commotion 
]-ecalled her to my attention. Blocks were rattling, commands quick and 
sharp were ringing out, and I could plainh^ see the splash that followed the 
descent of the boats into the water. Away they went, the ashen blades 
bending like withes with the energy and vim of tlie stroke. Erect in the 
stern, his arms bared to the shoulder, his body inclined forward like a bend- 
ed bow, was the boat-steerer. I fancied I could hear his voice and see his 
gestures as he shook his clenched fist in the faces of the boat's crew. This 
was the boat-steerer's speech : 

"Now, boys, give it to her; lay back hard ! Spring hard, I tell you ! 
There she blows ! Break your backs, you duff-eaters ! Put me right on top 
of that whale, boys ! There she is, boys — a beauty! One more lift, and 
hurra for Nantucket bar !" 

After a weary and fruitless chase — for the whales had sounded — we were 
boarded by the mate's boat, and requested to report their vessel. I gazed 
Avith real curiosity at its crew. Every man had a bandana handkerchief 
bound tightly about his head. Faces, chests, and arms were the color of old 
mahogany well oiled. They were then two years out, they said, and inquired 
anxiously for news from the "States." They neither knew who was Pi-esi- 
dent, nor of the war raging between the great powers of Europe, and were 
thankful for the old newspapers that we tossed to them. At length they 
rowed off, cutting their way through the water with a powerful stroke, their 
boat mountimr the seas like an esfg-shell. 



336 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 

An ancient salt with wliom I talked in Nantucket spoke of the disappear- 
ance of the whales, and of their turning up in new and unexpected waters. 
From the beginning of the century until the decline of the fishery, vessels 
usually made a straight course for Cape Horn ; but of late years, whales, he 
said, had re-appeared in the Atlantic, making their way, it is believed, through 
the North-west Passage. Whales with harpoons sticking in them having the 
names of vessels that had entered the Arctic by way of Behring's Straits 
have been taken by other ships on the Atlantic side of the continent. 

"When I first went whaling," quoth he, " you might wake up of a morn- 
ing in the Sea of Japan with fifty sail of whalemen in sight. A fish darsent 
(durst not) show his head : some ship would take him." 

"I have gone on deck off the Cape of Good Hope," he continued, " when 
we hadn't a. bar'l of ile in the ship, an' the whales nearly blowin' on us out o' 
the water. We took in twelve hundred bar'ls afore we put out the fires." 

Now, though they burn coal-oil in Nantucket, I believe they would pre- 
fer sperm. You could not convince an islander that the discovery of oil in 
the coal-fields was any thing to his advantage; nor would he waste words 
with you about the law of compensations. A few, I was told, still cling to 
the idea of a revival in the whale-fishery, but the greater number regard it as 
clean gone. I confess to a weakness for oil of sperm myself. There are the 
recollections of a shining row of brazen and pewter lamps on the mantel, the 
despair of house-maids. In coal-oil there is no poetry; Shakspeare and Milton 
did not study, nor Ben Jonson rhyme, by it. Napoleon did not dictate nor 
Nelson die by the light of it. Nowadays there are no lanterns, no torches, 
worthy the name. 

As there is not enough depth of water on Nantucket bar for large ships, 
Edgartown Harbor was formerly resorted to by the whalemen of this island, 
to obtain fresh water and fit their ships for sea. If they returned from a 
voyage in winter, they were obliged to discharge their cargoes into lighters 
at Edgartown before they could er\ter Nantucket Harbor. One of the Nan- 
tucket steeples was constructed with a lookout commanding the whole island, 
from which the watchman might, it is said, with a glass, distinguish vessels 
belonging here that occasionally came to anchor at Martha's Vineyard. 

In time a huge floating dock tliat could be submerged, called a camel, 
was employed to bring vessels over the bar. After going on its knees and 
taking the ship on its back, the camel was pumped free of water, when both 
came into port. These machines are not of Yankee invention. They were 
originated by the celebrated De Witt, for the purpose of conveying large ves- 
sels from Amsterdam over the Pampus. They were also introduced into 
Russia by Peter the Great, who had obtained their model while working as a 
common shipwright in Holland. As invented, the camel was composed of 
two separate parts, each having a concave side to embrace the ship's hull, to 
which it was fastened with stron<x cables. 



NANTUCKET. 



337 



Tlie liarbors of Edgartowii, New London, and New Bedford, not beiiio- 
subject to tlie inconvenience of a bar before them, flourished to some extent 
at the expense of Nantucket; but all these ports have shared a common fate. 
The gold fever of 1849 broke out when whaling was at its ebb, and then 
scores of whale -ships for the last time doubled Cape Horn. Ofticers and 
men drifted into other employments, or continued to follow the sea in some 
less dangerous service. They were considered the best sailors in the world. 
I remember one athletic Islesman, a second-mate, who quelled a mutiny sinfle- 
handed with sledge-hammer blows of his fist. When his captain appeared 
on deck with a brace of ))istols, the affray was over. The ringleader bore 
the marks of a terrible punishment. "You've a heavy hand, Mr. Blank," 

said Captain G . '• I'm a Nantucket whaleman, and used to a long 

dart." 

At the Nantucket Athenaeum are exhibited some relics of whales and 
whaling, of which all true islanders love so well to talk. The jaw-bone of a 
sperm-whale may there be seen. It would have made Samson a better weap- 
on tlian the one he used with such effect against the Philistines. This whale 
stores the spermaceti in his cheek. You can compress tlie oil from it with 
the hand, as fi'om honey-comb. What is called the "case" is contained in , 
the reservoir he carries in his head, from which barrels of it are sometimes 
dipped. What does he want with it? Or is it, mayhap, a softening of his 
great, sluggish brain ? 

The ti'emendous power the whale is able to put forth when enraged is 
illustrated by the tale of a collision with one that resulted in the loss of the 
ship Essex^ of Nantucket. On the 18th of November, 1820, the ship was 
among whales, and three boats were lowered. A young Avhale was taken. 
Shortly after, another of great size, supposed to have been the dam of tlie one 
just killed, came against the ship with such violence as to tear away part of 
the false keel. It then remained some time alongside, endeavoring to grip 
the ship in its jaws; but, failing to make any impression, swam ott* about a 
quarter of a mile, when, sudderdy turning about, it came with tremendous 
velocity toward the Essex. The concussion not only stopped the vessel's 
way, but actually forced lier astern. Every man on deck was knocked down. 
The bows were completely stove. In a few minutes the vessel tilled and 
went on her beam-ends. 

Near one of the principal wharves is the Custom-house. It is situated at 
the bottom of the square alread}'^ referred to, of which the Pacitic Bank, 
established in 1805, occupies the upper end, the sides being bordered by 
shops. The first-floor of the Custom-house is used by a club of retired ship- 
masters, in which they meet to recount the perils and recall the spoils of 
whaling battles. 

We are told by Macy, the historian of the island, that " the inhabitants 
live together like one great family. They not only know their nearest neigh- 

22 



338 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 

bors, but each one knows tlie rest. If you wisli to see any man, you need but 
ask the first inhabitant you meet, and he will be able to conduct you to his 
residence, to tell you what occupation he is of, etc., etc." If one house en- 
tertained a stranger, the neighbors would send in whatever luxuries they 
might have. After a lapse of nearly forty years, I found Macy's account 
still true. All questionings were answered with civility and directness, and, 
as if that were not enough, persons volunteered to go out of their way to 
conduct me. In a whaling port there is no cod-fish aristocracy. Thackeray 
could not have found materials for his " Book of Snobs" in Nantucket, though, 
if rumor may be believed, a few of the genus are dropping in from the main- 
land. 

I observed nothing peculiar about the principal centre of trade, except the 
manner of selling meat, vegetables, etc. When the butchers accumulate an 
overstock of any article they dispose of it by auction, the town-crier being 
dispatched to summon the inhabitants, greeting. 

This functionary I met, swelling with importance, but a trifle blown from 
the frequent sounding of his clarion, to wit, a japanned fish-horn. Met him, 
did I say ? I beg the indulgence of the reader. Wherever I wandered in my 
rambles, he was sure to turn the corner just ahead of me, or to spring from 
the covert of some blind alley. He was one of those who, Macy says, knew 
all the other inhabitants of the island ; me he knew for a strangei". He stopped 
short. First he M'ound a terrific blast of his horn. Toot, toot, toot, it echoed 
down the street, like the discordant braying of a donkey. This he followed 
with lusty ringing of a large dinner-bell, peal on peal, until I was ready to 
exclaim with the Moor, 

"Silence that dreadful bell! it frights the isle 
From her propriety." 

Then, placing the fish-horn under his arm, and taking the bell by the tongue,] 
he delivered himself of his formula. I am not likely to forget it: "Twoboats| 
a day ! Burgess's meat auction this evening ! Corned beef! Boston Theatre,^ 
positively last night this evening !" 

He was gone, and I heard bell and horn in the next street. He was the] 
life of Nantucket while I was there; the only inhabitant I saw moving faster] 
than a moderate walk. They said he had been a soldier, discharged, by his 
own account, for being "non compos,'''' or something of the sort. I doubtj 
there is any thing the matter with his lungs, or that his wits are, "like sweetj 
bells jangled, out of tune and harsh ;" yet of his fish-horn I would say, 

"0 would I might turn poet for an houre, 
To satirize with a A-indictive powere 
Against the bloiver .''" 

The history of Nantucket is not involved in obscurity, though Dr. MorseJ 



NANTUCKET. 339 

in liis Gazetteer^ printed in 1793, says no mention is made of the discovery and 
settlement of the island, under its present name, by any of our historians. Its 
settlement by English goes no further back than 1659, when Thomas Macy' 
removed from Salisbury, in Massachusetts, to the west end of the island, called 
by the Indians Maddequet, a name still retained by the harbor and fishing 
hamlet there. Edward Starbuck, James Coffin, and another of the name of 
Daget, or Daggett, came over from Martha's Vineyard, it is said, for the sake 
of the gunning, and lived with Macy. At that time there were nearly three 
thousand Indians on the island. 

Nantucket annals show what kind of sailors may be made of Quakers. 
The illustration is not unique. In the same year that Macy came to the isl- 
and a ship wholly manned by them went from Newfoundland to Lisbon with 
fish. Some of them much affronted the Portuguese whom they met in the 
streets by not taking off their hats to salute them. If the gravity of the 
matter had not been the subject of a state paper I should not have known it.* 

Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard were not included in either of the four 
New England governments. All the islands between Cape Cod and Hudson 
River were claimed by the Earl of Sterling. In 1641 a deed was passed to 
Thomas Mayhew, of Martha's Vineyard, by James Forett, agent of the earl, 
and Richard Vines, the steward of Sir F. Gorges. The island, until the ac- 
cession of William and Mary, was considered within the jurisdiction of New 
York, though we find the deed to Mayhew reciting that the government to 
be there established by him and his associates should be such as was then 
existing in Massachusetts, with the same privileges granted by the patent of 
tliat colony. In 1659 Mayhew conveyed to the associates mentioned in his 
deed, nine in number, equal portions of his grant, after reserving to himself 
Masquetuck Neck, or Quaise.^ The consideration was thirty ])ounds of lawful 
money and two beaver hats, one for himself, and one for his wife. The first 
meeting of the proprietors was held at Salisbury, Massachusetts, in September 
f . 

' Of Macy it is known that he fled from the rigorous persecution of the Quakers by the govern- 
ment of Massachusetts Bay. The penalties were ordinarily cropping the ears, branding with an 
iron, scourging, the i)illory, or banishment. These cruelties, barbarous as they were, were merely 
borrowed from the England of that day, where the sect, saving capital punishment, was persecuted 
with as great rigor as it ever was in the colonies. The death-penalty inflicted in the Bay Colony 
brought the aff'airs of the Friends to the notice of the reigning king. Thereafter they were toler- 
ated : b\it as persecution ceased the sect dwindled away, and in New England it is not numerous. 
The Friends' poet sings of Macy, the outcast : 

"Far round the bleak and stormy Cape 
The vent'mus Macy passed, 
And ou Nantucket's naked isle 
Drew up his boat at last." 

^Thurloe, vol. v., p. 422. 

^ The nine were Tristram Coffin, Thomas IMacy, Christopher Hussey, Richard Swain, Thomas 
Barnard, Peter Coffin, Stephen Greenleaf, John Swain, and William Pile, who afterward sold his 
tenth to Richard Swain. 



340 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 

of the same jcav (1659), at wliicli time ten otlier persons were aJmitted part' 
ners,' enlar<^iiig' tlie whole number of proprietoi's to nineteen. After the re- 
moval to the island, the number was further increased to twenty-seven by the 
admission of Richard and Josepli Gardiner, Joseph Coleman, William Woi'th, 
Peter and Eleazer Folger, Samuel Stretor, and Nathaniel Wier. 

The Englisli settlers in 16G0 obtained a confii-mation of their title from 
the sacliems Wanackmamack and Niekanoose, with certain reservations to 
the Indian inhabitants, driving, as usual, a liard, ungenerous bargain, as the 
Indians learned when too late. In 1700 their grievances were communicated 
by the Earl of Bellomont, then governor, to the crown. Their greatest 
complaint was, that the English had by calculation sti'ipped them of the 
means of keeping cattle or live stock of any kind, even on their reserved 
lands, by means of concessions they did not comprehend. At that time the 
Indians had been decimated, numbering fewer than four hundred, while the 
whites had inci^ased to eight liundred souls. The mortality of 1763 wasted 
the few remaining Indians to a handful." In 1791 there were but four males 
and sixteen females. Abraham Quady, the last survivor, died within a few 
years. 

The choice of the island by Macy is accounted for by the foregoing facts, 
doubtless within liis knowledge, as many of the original proprietors were his 
townsmen. 

Thomas Mayhew ought to be considered one of tlie fathers of English set- 
tlement in New England. He was of Watertown, in ^Massachusetts, and I 
])resume tlie same person mentioned by Di-ake, in his "Founders," as desirous 
of passing, in 1637, into "rtV)raigne partes." lie is styled INIr. Tliomas May- 
liew, Gent., a title raising him above the rank of tradesmen, artificers, and the 
like, who were not then considered gentlemen ; nor is this distinction much 
weakened at the present day in England. Mayhew received his grant of 
Nantucket and two small islands adjoining in Octobei", 1641, and on the 23d 
of the same month, of Martha's Vineyard and the Elizabeth Islands. The 
younger Mayhew, who, Mather says^ settled at the Vineyard in 1642, seems to 
have devoted himself to the convei'sion of the Indians with the zeal of a mis- 
sionary.^ In 1657 he was drowned at sea, the ship in which he had sailed for 
England never having been heard from. He was taking with him one of the 
Vineyard Indians, with tlie hope of awakening an interest in their progress 
toward Christianity. Jonathan Mayhew, the celebrated divine, was of this 
stock. 

The first settlement at ]Maddequet Harbor was abandoned after a more 

' John Smith, Nathaniel Staibnck, Edward Starbnclc, Thomas Look, Robert Barnard, James 
Coffin, Robert Pike, Tristram Coffin, Jiin., Tliomas Coleman, and John Bishop. 

* Of three hundred and fifty-eight Indians alive in 17C3, two hundred and twenty-two died by 
the distemper. 

' Hutchinson. ♦ 



NANTUCKET. 



341 



tliorough knowledge of tlie island and the accession of white inhabitants. The 
south side of the ])resent harbor was first selected ; l)Ut its inconvenience bein<; 
soon felt, the town was located where it now is. By instruction of Governor 
Francis Lovelace it received, in 1673, the name of Sherburne, changed in 1795 
to the more familiar one of Nantucket. 

The town stands near the centre of the island, the place having formerlv 
been known by the Indian name of " Wesko," signifying White Stone. This, 
stone, which lay, like the rock of the Pilgrims, on the harbor shore, was in 
time covered by a wharf. The bluff at the west of the town still retains the 
name of Shei-bnrno. T found the oldest houses at the extremities of the town. 

'W4 




E. JOHNSON'S STUDIO, NANTUCKET. 

Another of the original proprietors is remembered with honor by tlie isl- 
anders. Peter Folger was looked up to as a superior sort of man. He was 
so well versed in the Indian tongue that his name is often found on the deeds 
from the natives. The mother of Benjamin Franklin was the daughter of 
Folger. They do not forget it. The name of Peter Folger is still contin- 
ued, and family relics of interest are preserved by the descendants of the 
first Peter, 

Any account of Nantucket must be incomplete that omits mention of Sir 
Isaac Coffin, Sir Isaac was a Bostonian, His family were out-and-out Tories 
in the Revolution, with moi'e talent than in general falls to the share of one 



342 



THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 



liousehold. He was descendetl from an ancient family in the northern part 
of Devonshire, England. In 1773 Isaac Coffin was taken to sea by Lieutenant 
Hunter, of tlie Gaspee, at the recommendation of Admiral John Montague. 
His commanding officer said he never knew any young man acquire so much 
nautical knowledge in so short a time. After reaching the grade of post- 
captain. Coffin, for a breach of the regulations of the service, was deprived of 
liis vessel, and Eaid Howe struck his name from the list of post-captains. This 
act being illegal, he was reinstated in 1790. In 1804 he was made a baronet, 
and in 1814 became a full admii-al in the British navy. One of his brothers 
was a British general. 

On a visit to the United States, in 1826, Sir Isaac came to Nantucket. 
Finding that many of tlie inhabitants claimed descent from his own genea- 
logical tree, he authorized the purchase of a building, and endowed it witii a 
fund of twenty-five hundred pounds sterling, for the establishment of a school 
to which all descendants of Tristram Coffin, one of the first settlers, should be 
admitted. On one of his voyages to America the admiral suffered shipwreck. 

During the war of 1812, it is related that the admiral made a visit to Dart- 
moor prison, for tlie purpose of releasing any American prisoners of his family 
name. Among others who presented themselves was a negro. "Ah," said 
the admiral, "you a Coffin too?" "Yes, massa." "How old are you?" "Me 
thirty yeai's, massa." " Well, then, you are not one of the Coffins, for they 
never turn black until forty." 





■^ 



" '■^-' -M^' 



NANTUCKET. — OLD WINDMILL, LOOKING OCEANWARD. 



CHAPTER XXI. 

NANTUCKET — Continued. 

Muskeeget, Tuckanuck, Maddequet, 
Sankoty, Coatue, Siasconset. 

HISTOKY is said to repeat itself, and why may not the %vhale-fishinor ? 
Now that the ships are all gone, a small whale is occasionally taken otf 
the island, as in days of yore. While I was at Nantucket, a scliool of black- 
fish were good enough to come into the shallows not far from the harbor, and 
stupid enough to permit themselves to be taken. The manner of their cap- 
ture was truly an example of the triumph of mind over matter. 

When the school were discovered near the shore, the fishermen, getting 
outside of them in their dories, by hallooing, sounding of horns, and other 
noises, drove them, like frightened sheep, toward the beach. As soon as the 
hunters were in shoal water they left their boats, and jumped overboard, urg- 
ing the silly fish on by outcries, splashing the >vater, and blows. Men, and 
even boys, waded boldly up to a fish, and led him ashore by a fin ; or, if in- 
clined to show fight, put their knives into him. They cuffed them, pricked 
them onward, filling the air with shouts, or with peals of laughter, as some 
pursuer, more eager than prudent, lost his footing, and became for the moment 
a fish. All this time the blackfish were ncaring the shore, uttering sounds 
closely resembling groanings and lamentations. The calves kept close to the 



344 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 

old ones, "squealing," as one of tlie captors told me, like young pigs. It was 
great sport, not wholly free from danger, for the fish can strike a powerful 
l)low with its flukes; and the air was filled with jets of water where they had 
lashed it into foam. At length the whole school were landed, even to one 
poor calf that had wandered off, and now came back to seek its dam. The 
fishermen, after putting their marks upon them, went up to town to com= 
municate their good luck. Sometimes a hundi'ed or two are taken at once 
in this wise, here or on the Cape. 

The oil of the blackfisli is obtained in precisely the same manner as that 
of the whale, of which it is a pocket edition. The blubber, nearly resembling 
pork-fat, was stripped off and taken in dories to town. I saw the men tossing 
it with their pitchforks on the shore, whence it was loaded into carts, and car- 
ried to the try-house on one of the wharves. Here it was heaped in a palpi- 
tating and by no means savory mass. Men were busily engaged in trimming 
off the superfluous flesh, or in slicing it, with great knives resembling sliingle- 
froes, into pieces suitable for the try-pot; and still others were tossing it into 
the smoking caldron. 

But if whales are getting scarce round about Nantucket, the blue-fish is 
still plenty. This gamest and most delicious of salt-water fish is noted for 
its strength, voracity, and grit. He is a very pirate among fish, nuiking prey 
of all alike. Cod, haddock, mackerel, or tautog, are glad to get out of his 
way ; the smaller fry he chases among the surf-waves of the shore, much as 
the fishermen pursue the blackfish. Where the blue-fisli abounds you need 
not try for other sort: he is lord high admiral of the finny tribes. 

This fish has a curious liistory. Before the year 1V63, in which the great 
pestilence occurred among the Indians of the island, and from the first coming 
of the Indians to Nantucket, a large, fat fish, called the blue-fish, thirty of 
Mhich would fill a barrel, was caught in great plenty all around the island, 
from tlie 1st of July to the middle of October. It was remarked that in 
1764, the year in which the sickness ended, they disappeared, and were not 
again seen until about fifty years ago.' 

It was a delicious afternoon that I set sail for the "Opening," as it is called, 
between Nantucket and Tuckanuck,^ an appanage of the former, and one of 
the five islands constituting the county of Nantucket. The tide runs with 
such swiftness that the boatmen do not venture through the Opening except 
with plenty of wind, and of the right sort. With a stiff breeze blowing, the 
breakers are superb, especially when wind and tide are battling, witli each 
other. With the wind blowing freshly over these shallow waters, it does 
not take long for tlie seas to assume propoi-tions simply appalling to a lands- 



^ Zaccheus Macy, in his account of the island, written in 1792, says none had been taken up to 
that time — " a great loss to the islanders." 

* The Indian name Tuckanuck signifies a loaf of bread. 



NANTUCKET. 



345 




man. It was a magnificent sight ! 

Great waves erected tliemselves into 

solid walls of green, advancing at 

first majestically, then rnshing with 

increased momentum across our 

course to crash in clouds of foam 

upon the opposite shore. It needs a 

skillful boatman at the helm. What with the big seas, the seething tide-rips, 

and the scanty sea-room, the sail is of itself sufficiently exciting. 

But the fishing, what of that? We cast our lines over the stem, and, as 
the boat was going at a great pace, they were straightened out in a trice. 
At the end of each M'as a wicked -looking hook of large size, having a 
leaden sinker run upon the shank of it. Over this hook, called by the fish- 
ermen hereabouts a "drail," an eel-skin was di-awn, though I have known 
the blue -fish to bite well at a simple piece of canvas or leather. Away 
bounded the boat, while we stood braced in the standing-room to meet her 
plunging. Twenty fathoms with a pound of lead at the end seems fifty, 
at least, with your boat rushing headlong under all she can bear. Half 
an acre of smooth water wholly unruffled is just ahead. "I'm going to 
put you right into that slick," said our helmsman. "Now look out for a 
big one." 

I felt a dead weight at my line. At the end of it a shining object leaped 
clear from the water and fell, with a loud plash, a yard in advance. Now, 
haul in steadily; don't be flurried; but, above all, mind your line does not 
slacken. I lost one splendid fellow by too great precipitation. The line is 
as rigid as steel wire, and, if your hands are tender, cuts deep into the flesh. 
Ah ! he is now near enough to see the boat. How he plunges and tries to 
turn ! He makes the water boil, and the line fairly sing. I had as lief try to 
hold an old hunter in a steeple-chase. Ha! here you are, my captive, under 
the counter; and now I lift you carefully over the gunwale. I enjoin on the 



346 



THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 



inexperienced to be sure they land a fish in the boat, and not lose one, as I 
did, by throwing liini on the gunwale. 

The fish shows fight after he is in the tub, shutting his jaws with a vicious 
snap as he is being unhooked. Look out for him ; he can bite, and sliarply 
too. Tlie blue-fish is not unlike the salmon in looks and in action. He is fur- 
nished with a backbone of steel, and is younger brother to the shark. 

I looked over my shoulder. My companion, a cool hand ordinarily, was 
engaged in liauling in his line with afi:ected nonchalaiice ; but compressed 
lips, stern eye, and i-igid figure said otherwise. There is a quick flash in the 
water, and in comes the fish. " Eight-pounder," says the boatman. 




THE BLUE-FISH. 



These " slicks " are not the least curious feature of blue-fishing. The fish 
seems to have the ability to exude an oil, by which he calms the water so that 
he may, in a way, look about him, showing himself in this an adept in apply- 
ino" a well-known principle in hydrostatics. A perceptible odor arises from 
the slicks, so that the boatmen will often say, "I smell blue-fish." 

The boatman steered among the tide-rips, where each of us soon struck a 
fish, or, as the phrase here is, "got fast." The monster — I believe he was a 
ten-pounder at least — that took my hook threw himself bodily into tiie air, 
shaking his head as if he did not mean to come on board us. And he was as 
good as his threat: I saw the drail skipping on the top of the wave as my 
line came in empty. 

In two hours we had filled a barrel with fish, and it was time to shape our 
coarse harborward. We saw the smoke of the Island Home, looking at first 
as if rising out of the Sound ; then her funnel appeared, and at length her hull 
rose into view; but she was come within a mile of us before I could distin- 
guish her walking-beam. Tuckanuck and Low Water Island were soon a-lee. 
Maddequet Harbor opened a moment for ns, but we did not enter. We 
rounded Eel Point with a full sail, and shot past Whale Rock and the shoal 
of stranded blackfish I told you of. Ever and anon we had passed one adrift, 
stripped of liis fatty epidermis, and now food for the sharks. They were 
grotesque objects, though now mere carrion, above which the tierce gulls 



NANTUCKET. 



347 




BLUE-FISHING. 



screamed noisily. Here is Brant Point, and its lioht-honse of red brick. We 
stand well over for Coatue, then abont with her for the home stretch. "Fast 
bind fast find." Our bark is moored. With stiifened joints, but light hearts, 
we seek our lodgings. What do they say to us? I' faith I am not sorry I 
went blue-fishing. Reader, are you ? 

Many blue-fish are canght oflT the beach on the south shore of the island 
by casting a line among the breakers, and then hauling it quickly in. This 
method they call "heave and haul." It takes an expert to get the sleight 
of it. Gathering the line in a coil and swinging it a few times around his 
head, an old hand will cast it to an incredible distance. Tiie fish is also fre- 
quently taken in seines in shallow creeks and inlets, but he as often escapes 
through the rents he has made in the net. 

I had three excursions to make before I could say I had seen Nantucket. 
One was to the hills and sands toward Coatue, that curved like a sickle around 
the harbor; another was to Siasconset ; and yet another to the south side. 
This being done, I had not left much of the island unexplored. 

It was on a raw, blustering morning that I set ont for a walk around the 
eastern shore of the harbor. I saw the steamboat go out over the bar, now 
settling down in tlie trough, and now shaking herself and staggering onwaid. 
Dismally it looked for a day in July, but I had not the mending of it. After 



348 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 

getting well clear of the town I found the hills assuming some size and ap- 
pearance of vegetation. They were overgrown with wild -cranberry vines 
bearing stunted fruit, each turning a little red cheek to be kissed by the 
morning sun. Some beautiful flowers sprung from among the neutral patches 
of heather. The Indian pea, unmatched in wild beauty, displayed its sump- 
tuous plume among the gray moss or modest daisies. 

The beach grass was rooted everywhere in the hillocks next the shore, and 
appeared to be gradually working its way inland. I attempted to pull some 
of it up, but only the stalks remained in my hand. Each leaf is like a sword- 
blade. Pass your hand across the under-surface, and it is prickly and rough. 
What there formerly was of soil has been growing thinner and tliinner by 
being blown into the sea. Unlike the buffalo-grass of the plains, the beach 
grass possesses little nutriment, though cattle crop the tender shoots in spring. 
It was formerly much used for broom-stuflf. 

I picked up by the shore many scallop-shells, and on the hills saw many 
more lying where pleasure-seekers had held, as the saying is, their ^^sqiuDi- 
tum" or picnic. This is a historical shell. It surmounts the cap-stone of the 
monument built over the Rock of the Forefathers at Plymouth. In the Dark 
Ages, a scallop-shell fastened to the hat was the accepted sign that the wearer 
had made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. We read in Parnell's " Hermit :" 

" He quits Ids cell, the pilgrim staflF lie bore, 
And fixed the scallop in his hat before." 

Professor Gosse says there was a supposed mystical connection between 
the scallop-shell and St. James, the brother of the Lord, first bisliop of Jeru- 
salem. The scallop beds are usually in deej) water, and the fish, therefore, 
can be obtained only by dredging. Tiiey are rather plentiful in Narraganset 
Bay. Some, of a poetic turn, have called them the "butterflies of the sea;" 
others a "frill," from their fancied resemblance to that once indispensable 
badge of gentility. As much as any thing they look like an open fan. Many 
other shells I found, particularly the valves of quahaugs, and a periwinkle 
six inches in length. Its shell is obtained by fastening a hook in the fish and 
suspending it by a sti'ing. In a few hours the inhabitant drops his integu- 
ment. Amber is sometimes picked up on the shores, they say, but none came 
to my share. 

Shells of the same kind as those now common to the shores of the island 
have been found at tlie depth of fifty feet, after penetrating several strata of 
earth and clay. In digging as deep as the sea-level, the same kind of sand is 
brought to the surface as now makes the beaches, and the same inclination 
has been observed that now exists on the shores. Mr. Adams, my landlord, 
told me he saw taken from a well, at the depth of sixty feet, a quantity of 
quahaug-shells of the size of a half-dollar. They usually have to go this 
depth in the sand, and then get poor, brackish water. There is an account 



NANTUCKET. 349 

of the finding of the bone of a wliale tliirty feet nnder-ground at Siasconset. 
I saw many covered wells in Naiitncket streets that appeared to be the sup- 
ply of their immediate neighborhoods. 

The fogs tliat sometimes envelop Nantucket gave rise to a pleasant fic- 
tion, which smacks of the salt. A whaling ship, outward-bound, haviii<Ti- been 
caught in one of unusual density in leaving the port, the captain made a pe- 
culiar mark in it with a harpoon, and on his return, after a three years' cruise, 
fell in with the harbor at the very same spot. 

The Inilian legend of the origin of Nantucket is that Mashope, the Indian 
giant, formed it by emptying the ashes of his pipe into the sea. This same 
Mashope, having in one of his excursions lighted his pipe on the island, and 
sat down for a comfortable smoke, caused the fogs that have since prevailed 
there. He probably waded across from the Vineyard, when he wanted a 
little distraction from domestic infelicities. 

The residence of Mashope was in a cavern known as the Devil's Den, at 
Gay Head. Here he broiled the whale on a fire made of the largest trees, 
which he pulled up by the roots. After separating No Man's Land from 
Gay Head, metamorphosing his cliildren into fishes, and throwing his wife on 
Seconnet Point, where she now lies, a misshapen rock, he broke up housekeep- 
ing and left for parts unknown. 

Another Indian legend ascribed the discovery of Nantucket to the rav- 
ages made by an eagle among the children of the tribes on Cape Cod. The 
bird having seized a papoose, was followed by the parents in a canoe until 
they came to the island, where they found the bones of the child. The ex- 
istence of the island was not before suspected. 

Anciently, the dwellers were shepherds, living by their flocks as well as 
by fishing. Every inhabitant had the right to keep a certain number of sheep. 
One day in the year — formerly the only holiday kept on the island — every 
body repaired to the commons. The sheep were driven into pens and sheared. 
Sheep-shearing day continued the red-letter day on Nantucket well into 
the present century. I saw flocks browsing almost everywhere in my ram- 
bles, and thought them much more picturesque objects in the landscape tlian 
corn-fields or vegetable gardens. There is a freedom about a shepherd's life, 
a communion with and knowledge of nature in all her variable moods, that 
renders it more attractive than delving in the soil. No one is so weather- 
wise as a shepherd-boy. I liked to hear the tinkling of the bells, and watch 
the gambols of the lambs on the hill-sides. 

In his day, Philip was lord and sagamore of the Nantucket Indians. He 
came once to the island,. in pursuit of a sul)ject who had violated savage 
laws by speaking the name of the dead. The culprit took refuge in the 
house of Thomas Macy, and Philip, by the payment of a considerable i-ansom, 
was induced to spare his life. This occurred in 1065. 

The Indian prince was absolute lord on land and sea. Every thing 



350 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 

stranded on his coasts — wliales or otlier wreck of value found floating on the 
sea washing his shores — or brought and landed from any part of the sea, was 
no less his own. In the "Magnalia" is related an incident illustrating this 
absolutism of Indian sagamores. An Indian prince, with eighty well-armed 
attendants, came to Mr. Mayhew's house at Martha's Vineyard. Mayhew en- 
tered tlie room, but, being acquainted with their customs, took no notice of 
the visitors, it being with them a point of honor for an inferior to salute the 
superior. After a considerable time the chief broke silence, addressing Mr. 
Mayhew as sachem, a title importing only good or noble birth. The j^rince 
luiving preferred some request, Mayhew acceded to it, adding that he would 
confer with the whites to obtain their consent also. The Indian demanded 
why he recalled his promise, saying, "What I promise or speak is always 
true; but you, an English governor, can not be true, for you can not of your- 
self make true what you promise." 

It has been observed that the island is gradually Avasting away. On the 
east and south some hundreds of acres have been encroached upon by the 
sea, and, by the accounts of ancient inhabitants, as many more on the north. 
During some years the sea has contributed to extend the shores ; in others 
the waste was arrested ; but the result of a long series of observations shows 
a constant gain for the ocean. Smith's Point, now isolated from the main- 
land, once formed a part of it, the sea in 1786 making a clean breach through, 
and forming a strait half a mile wide. 

I have no wish to depreciate the value of real estate npon Nantucket, 
but by the year 3000, according to our pi'esent calendar, I doubt if there will 
be more than a grease-spot remaining to mark the habitation of a race of 
vikings whose javelins were harpoons. 

Siasconset is the paradise of the islander: not to see it would be in his 
eyes unpardonable. Therefore I went to Siasconset, or Sconset, as your true 
islander pronounces it, retaining all the kernel of the word. It is situated on 
the south-east shore of the island, seven miles from the town. 

You may have, for your excursion, any sort of vehicle common to the 
main-land, but the islandei-s most aiFect a cart with high-boarded sides and a 
step beliind, more resembling a city coal-cart than unj thing else I can call to 
mind. . Though not like an Irish jaunting-car, it is of quite as peculiar con- 
struction, and, when filled with its complement of gleeful excursionists, is no 
bad conveyance. For my own pait, I would rather walk, but they will tell you 
every body rides to Sconset. Take any vehicle you will, you can have only 
a single horse, the road, or rather track, being so deeply rutted that, when 
once in it, the wheels run in grooves six to twelve inches in depth, while the 
horse jogs along in a sort of furrow. 

I own to a rooted antipathy to carts, going much farther back than my 
visit to Nantucket. The one I rode in over a stony road in Maine, with a 
sack of hay for a cushion, put me out of conceit with carts. I would liave 



NANTUCKET. 35 j 

admired the scenery, had not my time been occupied in liolding on, and in 
catchi?ig my breath. I miglit have talked with the driver, had not tlie joltino- 
put me under the necessity of swallowini>: my own words, and nobody, I fancy 
quite likes to do that. AVhat little was said came out by jerks, like the con- 
fession of a victim stretched on the rack. Henceforth I revolted against hav- 
ing my utterance broken on the wheel. 

But when I came to be the involuntary witness of a familj^ quari-el in a 
cart, I banished them altogether from tlie catalogue of vehicles. "You are 
kept so very close to it, in a cart, you see. There's thousands of couples 
among you getting on like sweet-ile on a whetstone, in houses five and six 
pairs of stairs high, that would go to the divorce court in a cai-t. Whether 
the jolting makes it woi-se, I don't undertake to decide, but in a cart it does 
come home to you, and stick to you. Wiolence in a cart is so wiolent, and 
aggrawation in a cart so aggrawating." 

After leaving the town tlie way is skirted, for some distance, with scraggy, 
weird-looking pitch-pines, that are slowly replacing the native forest. At 
every mile is a stone — set at the roadside by the care of one native to this, 
and now an inhabitant of the most populous island in America.' They are 
painted white, and stand like sentinels by day, or ghosts by night, to point 
the way. In one place I noticed the bone of a shark stuck in the gi-ound for 
a landmark. There are two roads to Siasconset, the old and the new. I 
chose the old. 

A stretch of seven miles across a lonely pi-airie, with no other object for 
the eye to rest upon than a few bare hills or sunken jjonds, brought us in sight 
of the village and of the sea. 

The Siasconset of the past was neither more nor less than a collection of 
fishermen's huts, built of the simplest matei'ials that would keep out Avind .".nd 
weather. In the beginnings of the English along our coast these little fish- 
ing-hamlets were called " stages." Other fishing-stages were at Weweeders, 
Peedee, Sesacacha, and Quidnet. Of these Siasconset alone has flourished. 
All early navigators and writers agree that the waters hereaway were abun- 
dantly stocked with tlie cod. 

I found the village pleasantly seated along the margin of the bluff, that 
rises here well above the sea. Behind it the land swelled again so as to in- 
tercept the view of the town. Underneatii the cliff is a terrace of sand, to 
which a flight of steps, eked out with a footpath, assists the descent. Here 
were lying a number of dories, and one or two singular-looking' fish-cai'ts, 
with a cask at one end for a wheel. A fish-house, with brush flakes about it, 
and a pile of wreck lumber, completed what man might have a title to. This 
terrace pitches abi'uptly into the sea, with a regularity Vf slope like the glacis 
of a fortress. It would never do to call the Atlantic a ditch, yet you seem 

' Rev. F. C. Ewer, of New York. 



352 



THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 




HOMES OF THE FISHERMEN, SIASCONtJliX. 



Standing on a parapet of sand. The sand here appears composed of particles 
of granite; in other parts of the ish\nd it is like tlie drift at Cape Cod. 

The village is an odd collection of one-story cottages, so alike that the 
first erected might have served as a pattern for all others. Iron ci-anes pi-o- 
jected from angles of the houses, on which to hang lanterns at night-fall, in 
place of street-lamps. Fences, neatly whitewashed or painted, inclosed each 
householder's possession, and in many instances blooming flower-beds caused 
an involuntary glance at the window for their guai'dians. On many houses 
were the names of wrecks that had the seeming of grave-stones overlooking 
the sands that had entombed the ships that wore them. In one front yard 
was the carved figure of a woinan that had been filliped by the foam of many 
a sea. Fresh from the loftier buildings and broader streets of the town, this 
seemed like one of those miniature villages that children delight in. 

Looking off seaward, I could descry no sails. The last objects on the hori- 
zon line were white-crested breakiers combing above the "gulf or ship-swal- 
lower" lying in wait beneath them. It is a dangerous sea, and Nantucket 
Shoals have obtained a terrible celebrity — unequaled, perhaps, even by the 
Goodwin Sands, that mariners shudder at the mention of. If a ship grounds 
on the Shoal she is speedily wrenched in pieces by the power of the surf. 
They will tell you of a brig (the Poinsett) that came ashore on the south 
side with her masts in her, apparently uninjured. Two days' pounding 
strewed the beach \vith her timbers. "A ship on the Shoals!" is a sound 
that will quicken the pulses of men familiar with danger. I suppose the calani- 



NANTUCKET. 



353 



itous boom of a minute-gun has often roused the little fishing-hamlet to exer- 
tions of which a few human lives were the guerdon. Heard amidst the accom- 
paniments of temj)est, gale, and the thunder of the breakers, it might well 
tlirill the listener with fear; or, if unheard, the lightning flashes would tell 
the watchers that wood and iron still held together, and that hope was not 
yet extinct. 

It may be that the great Nantucket South Shoal, forty-five miles in breadtlu 
by fifty in length, tends to the preservation of the island, for which it is a 
breakwater. The great extent of shallows on both sides of the island, with 
the known physical changes, would almost justify the belief that these sands 
and this island once formed part of the main-land of New England. 

Much is claimed, doubtless with justice, for the salubrity of Siasconset air. 
Many resort thither during the heats of midsummer. I found denizens of 
Nantucket who, it would seem, had enough of sea and shore at home, domes- 
ticated in some wee cottage. The season over, houses are shut uji, and the 
village goes into winter-quarters. The greensward, elevation above the sea, 
and pure air are its credentials. I saw it on a sunny day, looking its best. 

The sand is coarse-grained and very soft. There is no beach on the island 
firm enough for driving, or even tolerable walking. The waves that came in 
here projected themselves fully forty feet up the escai'pment of the bank that I 




THE SEA-BLUFF, SIASCONSET. 

23 



354 



THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 



have spoken of. I recollect that, having chosen what I believed a safe position, 
1 was overtaken by a wave, and had to beat a hasty retreat. Bathing here is, 
on account of the under-tow and quicksands, attended with hazard, and ought 
not to be attempted except with the aid of ropes. Willis talks of the tenth 
wave. I know about the third of the swell, for I have often watched it. 
The first and second are only forerunners of the mighty one. The dories 
come in on it. A breaker fell here every five seconds, by the watch. 

We returned by the foreland of Sankoty Head, on which a light-house 
stands. From an eminence here the sea is visible on both sides of the island. 
When built, this light was unsurpassed in brilliancy by any on the coast, 
and was considered equal to the magnificent beacon of the Morro. Fisher- 
men called it the blazing star. Its flashes are very full, vivid, and striking, 
and its position is one of great importance, as warning the mariner to steer 
wide of the great Southern Shoal. Seven miles at sea the white flash takes a 
reddish lu.e. 







iiiiii 



m-^5^;^^-^^ 
^^^ 



^^ l.<^ ^ \ ~~_:i/^^^~ /'^ 



HAULING A DORY OVER THE HILLS, NANTUCKET. 

The following afternoon I walked ncross the island to the south shore at 
Surfside, a distance of perhaps three miles or more, A south-west gale that 
had prevailed for twenty-four houi-s led me to expect an angry and tumultu- 
ous sea; nor was I disai)pointed : the broad expanse between shore and hori- 
zon was a confused mass of foam and bi-oken watei". It was a mournful sea: 
not a sail nor a living soul was in sight. A few sand-birds and plover piped 
plaintively to the hoarse dinpason of the billows. 

Here I saw a sunset in a gale; the sun, as the sailors say, "setting up 



NANTUCKET. 



355 




k 



^a^^.^:^x^.a«asis 







LIGHT-HOUSE, SANKOTY HEAD, NANTUCKET., 

shroud'^ juul b;ickb.tays" — bcreeiieJ 
from view by a muss of dark clouds, yet pou ring- 
down from beliind them through interstices upon 
the bounds of the sea, the rays having somewhat 
the appearance of goMen i-opes arising Irom the 
ocean and converging to an unseen point. 

I seated myself in one of the dories on the beach and gazed my fill. Say 
■what you will, there is a mighty fascination in the sea. Darkness surprised 
me before I had recrossed the lonely moor, and I held my way, guided by the 
deep cart-ruts, until the lights of the town twinkled their welcome before me. 
It was my last night on sea-girt Nantucket. I do not deny that I left it with 
reluctance. 





NEWPOKT, FROM FOKT ADAMS. 



CHAPTER XXII. 

NEWPORT OF AQUIDNECK. 

"This castle hath a pleasant seat: the air 
Nimbly and sweetly recommends itself 
Unto our gentle senses." — Macbeth. 

NEWPORT is an equivoque. It is old, and yet not ; grave, though gay ; 
o])nlent and poor; splendid and mean; populous or deserted. As the 
only jilace in New England where those who flee from one city are content 
to inhabit another, it is anomalous. 

In his "Trois Mousquetaires" Alexander Dumas makes liis giant, Porthos, 
encounter a ludicrous adventure. The guardsman is the complacent pos- 
sessor of a magnificent golden sword-belt, the envy of his comrades, until on 
one unlucky day it is discovered that the half concealed beneath his cloak is 
nothing but leather; whereupon some sword-thrusts occur. It was M. Bes- 
meaux, afterward governor of the Bastile, who was the real hero of the sword- 
belt — half gold, half leather — that Dumas has hung on the shoulders of his 
gigantic guardsman. 

Newport's ocean side is belted with modern villas, costly, showy, and or- 
nate. They mask the town in splendid succession, as if each had been built 
to surpass its neighbor. This is the Newport of to-day. Behind it, old, gray, 
and commonplace by comparison, is the Newport of other days. Tlie diifer- 
ence between the two is very marked. The old town is the effete body into 
which the new is infusing young blood, warming and invigorating it into new 
life. If the figure were permissible, we should say the Queen of Aquidneck 
had dnmk of the elixir of life, so unexampled is the rapidity with which she 
transfigures herself 

I like Newport because it is old, quaint, and peculiar. Though fixr fron^ in- 



NEWPORT OF AQUIDNECK. 3.^ 

sensible to-its difficult feats in architecture, I did not come to see fine houses 
To n.e hey embody nothing besides the idea of wealth and luxurious a" 
Many of them are as remarkable for elegance as are others for ugliness of 

con btieet. They are at first bewildering, then monotonous; or, as Ru.kin 
say. of types . torm, mere tbrm, ^^ You learn not to see them. You d;!:'; 

It hlst\fr7r" "'' T"'"'''"''' '"' ^ ""'^ '' ^^'^^^ "-'-''' reservation. 
It has a matchless site, glorious bay, and delicious climate, that many have 
bee.1 wiUing, pe.-haps a little too willing, to compare with It^dy. If .- h ve 

land, I f.a dJy concede Newport possesses it. The Gulf Stream approaches 
near enough to temper in summer the harshness of sea-breezes, and he ri'o 
ot cold northern winds in winter. The only faults I had to find with Th 

o the nights, ihe pavements are frequently wet as if by light showers. 
This condition ot the atmosphere is the plague of laundresses and hair-dress- 
ers at the great houses: the ringlets you see in Newport are natural. 

When at the Isles of Shoals, we were a "thin nudei-waistcoat warmer" 

han on the mam-hand. Neal says it is a coat warmer in winter at Newport 
than at Boston I remarked that evening promenaders in the streets there 
were more thinly clothed than would be considered prudent elsewhere In 
Newport, according to Neal, it would lose much point to say a man was with- 
out a coat to his back. Mr. Cooper, in the "Red Rover," calls attention to 
the magnificent harbor of Newport in the language of the practiced seaman 

t fully meets all the requisites of easy approach, safe anchorage, and quiet 
basin. Isles and promontories, frowning with batteries, shield it from danger 
or insult. The verdure of the shores is of the most brilliant green, and oro°ws 
quite to the water's edge, or to the verge of the cliffs. In a calm day when 
the water is ruflled only by light airs, the tints of sea and sky are scarcely' 
difl^erent: then the bay really looks like 

"Un pezzo di cielo oadiito in terra." 

In approaching Newport from sea, after weathering much-dreaded Point 
Judith,^ we shall flxll in with the light-vessel anchored oft^Brenton's Reef the 
extreme south-west point of the island of Rhode Island. At the same time 
the light-house on Beaver TaiP flashes greeting, and we may now enter the 



^ At Naples the summer temperature is seldom above 73°; in winter it does not fall below 47= 
Ponit Judith is named from Judith Quincy, the wife of John Hull, coiner of the rare old pine- 
tree shi Hi ngs of 1652. Uj^lUC 

' Beaver Tail is a peninsula at the southern extremity of Canonicut Island, so named from its 
marked resemblance, on the map, to the appendage of the beaver. 



358 



THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 




OLD FOUT, DUMPLING ROCKS. 



port with coiilidcncG. Passing beside tlie "Dumplings" and the old round 
tower, perelied on a projecting and almost insulated I'ock, we steer under 
the walls of Fort Adams.' Sleepy fishing-boats, coming in with the morn- 
ing's flood, are sent, with 
_.-^-^- ' ' ^K rattling blocks, and sails idly 

^■""^ 'ssKi-at. flapping, reeling and rocking 

on big waves caused by the 
majestic onward march of 
our great steamer; the beat 
*>%) *^^t,he paddles comes audibly 
back from rocks washed for 
a moment by our attendant 
wave. As we round the 
fortress the bugles play. A 
ball goes quickly up to the 
very top of the flag-staft'; 
there is a flash, and a roar of the morniiig gun ; and when the smoke 
drifts slowly before the breeze, we see the dear old flag blowing out clear, 
with every stripe still there, and never a reproach in one of them. At our 
right, and close inshore, is Lime Rock Light, with its associations of female 
lieroism.'^ At the left is Goat Island, long and low, with Fort Wolcott and 
pleasant cottages for the ofticers of the torpedo station.' Beyond, rising tier 
above tier, with the beautiful spire of Trinity Church in its midst, is New- 
port. 

Newport has been compared to the Lothians and to the Isle of Wight, 
the British Eden. By all old travelei'S it was admitted to be the paradise 
of New England. Its beautiful and extensive bay reminds Scotsmen of the 
Clyde. In fact, every traveled person at once estimates it with what has 
liitherto impressed him most — an' involuntary but sure recognition of its 
charms. 

Previous to the Revolution, Newport was the fourth commercial town in 
the colonies, once having more than nine thousand inhabitants. It was at 
first tributary to Boston, sending its corn, pork, and tobacco to be exchanged 

^ Fort Adams is pitiiated at the upper (nortlieni) end of a point of land which helps to form the 
liarhor of Newport; it also incloses a piece of water called Brenton's Cove. 

* By our American Grace Darling, Miss Ida Lewis. 

' Goat Island was the site of a colonial fortress. During tlie reign of King William, Colonel 
Isomer advised the fortification of Rhode Island, which he says iiad never been done "by reason 
of the mean condition and refractoriness of the inhabitants." In 1744 the fort on Goat Island 
mounted twelve cannon. At the beginning of the Revolution General Lee, and afterward Colonel 
Knox, marked out defensive works ; but they do not appear to have been executed when tlie British, 
on the same daj- that Wasliington crossed the Delaware, took possession of the island. The Whigs, 
in 177.5, removed the cannon from the batteries in the harbor. Major L'Enfant, the engineer of 
West Point, was the author of Fort Wolcott. 



NEWPORT OF AQUIDNECK. 359 

for European goods. Its commercial recovery from tlie prostration ia which 
the old war left it was again arrested by that of IS12; and this time it did 
not -rise again. The wliale-fishery was introduced and abandoned: wi-iters 
of this period describe it as lifeless, with every mark of dihipidation and de- 
cay. The salubrity of the climate of Newport had long been acknowledged 
and before 1820 it had become a place of resort for invalids fi-om the South- 
ern States and the West Indies. This one original gift has ever since been 
out at interest, until, whei-e a few aci-es of grass once flourished, you mi<>ht 
cover the ground with dollars belbre you became its owner.' 

At Newport the visitor is challenged by past and present, each liaving 
large claims on his attention, I spent much of my time among old houses, 
monuments, and churches. Some of these are in public places and are easily 
found, while others are hidden away in foi-gotten corners, or screened from 
observation by the walls of intervening buildings. As is inevitable in such a 
place, the visitor will unwittingly pass by many objects that he will be cu- 
rious to see, and in i-etracing his footsteps will have occasion to remark how 
much a scrap of history or tradition adds to the charm of an otherwise unin- 
teresting structure. 

The town along the water resembles Salem, except that it has neither its 
look of antiquity nor its dilapidation. Here the piincipal thorou<^iifai-e is 
Thames Street, long, narrow, and almost wholly built of wood. The narrow- 
ness of Thames Street has been referred to the encroachments of builders of 
a former time, the old houses standing at some distance back from the ])ave- 
ment being pointed to as evidence of the fact. I can only vouch for glimpses 
of some very habitable and inviting old residences in back courts and alleys 
opening upon the sti'eet. Here, too, old gambrel-roofed houses are plenty as 
blackberries in August. They have a portly, alderinanic look, with great 
breadth of beam, like sliips of their day. When these houses that now stand 
end to the street had pleasant garden spots between, a walk here would have 
been worth the taking. When there were no sidewalks, it meant something 
to give the wall to your neighbor, and tact and breeding were requisite to 
know Avlien to demand and when to decline it. 

In Thames Street are several imperturbable notables in brick or wood. 
The City Hall — for as early as 1784 Newport had reached the dignity of a 
city — is usually first encountered. Notwithstanding tliey tell you it was one 

' There should be added to the detail of maps given in the initial chapter that of Jerome Ver- 
razani, in the College de Propaganda Fide, at Rome, of the supposed date of 1529. This map is 
des'^ribed and discussed, together with the detail of Giovanni Verrazani's letter to Francis I., 
dated at Dieppe, July 8rh, 1524, in " Verrazano, the Navigator," by J. C. Brevoort. A reduced 
copy of the map or " Planisphere " is there given. The author adopts the theory, not without 
l)lausibility, that Verrazani passed fifteen days at anchor in Narraganset Bay. As I have before 
said, there is something of fact in these early relations; but if tested by the only exact marks given 
(latitude, distances, and courses), they establish nothing. 



360 



THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 



of Peter Harrison's' bniklinjj^s, it is very ordinary-looking-, inside and out. It 
was built on arches, wliich indicates the lower floor to have been intended as 
a public promenade; and shows that the architect had the Old RoyaV Ex- 
c]iano;e in mind. For some time it was used as a market. This liouse came 
into the little world of Newport in 1763. A word of admiration from All- 
ston has long- been treasured. 

In this building I saw hanging the escutcheon of William Coddington, 
who, as every body at all familiar with the history of Rhode Island knows, 
was one of the founders of Newport, and first governor of the little body pol- 
itic organized upon the Isle of Aquidneck. 




OLD-TIME HOUSES. 

We have decided to cast a glance backward, and, to know our ground, 
must pay our duty to this old founder. William Coddington, Esquire, came 
to New England in 1630 with the Boston colonists, as one of the assistants 
named in their charter. He was several times rechosen to thi^ important po- 
sition, became a leading merchant in Boston, and is said to hiwe built the 
first brick house there.^ The house he afterward built and lived in at New- 
port, of the quaint old English pattern, was standing within tlie recollection 
of many older inhabitants. 

Mr. Coddington became involved in the Anne Ilntchinson controversy, as 
did Wheelwright, the founder of Exeter. Mrs. Hutchinson was banished, and 
took refuge with Coddington and others on Rhode Island. In the presence 



' Harrison, the first architect of his day in New England, was the author of many of the older 
public buildings in Newport, Trinity Church and Redwood Library among others. He also designed 
King's Chapel, Boston, and did what he could to drag architecture out of the mire of Puritan ugli- 
ness and neglect. 

^ He owned, besides his house and garden in Boston, lands at Mount Wollaston, now Qtnncy, 
Massachusetts. Coddington is mentioned in Samuel Fulhir's letter to Bradford, June, 1630. 
•"Mrs. Cottington is dead," he also says. 



NEWPORT OF AQUIDNECK. 



361 



=^.^^^ , ,:^^'^ 



of Governor Wintlirop and of Dudley, bis deputy; of tlie assistants, arnon<'- 
wliom were Endic^ott, Bradstreet, and Stouo-liton; confronted by the foremost 
and liai'dest-sliell- 

ed ministers in -^--±^=^:^s^^^ ^'^\^...^ ,- 

the colony, such 
as Hugh Peteis, 
Eliot, and Wil- 
son, this -wom- 
an defended her- 
self, almost siuLi'le- 
liaiided and with 
consummate ad- 
dress, against a 
court which had 
already prejudg- 
ed her case, and 
which stubbornly 
refused, until the 
veiy last stage of 
the proceedings, 
to put the wit- 
nesses upon oath, 
.\s a specimen of 
the wav in which residence of goveknor coddington, Newport, 1G41. 

justice was administered in the early day, and of judicial procedure, this 
trial is exceedingly curious.' Here is a specimen of brow-beating that re- 
calls "Oliver Twist:" 

Dep^dy-f/overnor. "Let her witnesses be called." 

Governor. " Who be they ?" 

Mrs. Hutchinson. "Mr, Leveret, and our teacher, and ^Ir. Coggeshall." 

Governor. "Mr. Coggeshall was not present." 

Mr. Coggeshall. "Yes, but I was, only I desired to be silent until I was 
called." 

Governor. "Will you, Mr. Coggeshall, say that she did not say so?" 

Mr. Coggeshall. "Yes, I dai'e say that she did not say all that which they 
lay against her." 

Mr. Peters. "How dare you look into the court to say such a word ?" 

J/r, Coggeshall. " Mr. Peters takes upon him to forbid me. I shall be silent." 

As the governor was about to pass sentence, Mr. Coddington arose and 
spoke some manly words : 




' It may be found at length in HutcliinsOn, appendix, vol. ii. Governor Hntcliinson was a rel- 
ative of the scliismatic Anne. 



362 THE KEW ENGLAND COAST. 

Mr. Coddington. " I do think that you are going to censui'e, therefore I 
desire to speak a word." 

Governor. "I pray you speak." 

Mr. Coddington. "There is one tiling olyected against tlie meetings. Wliat 
if she designed to edify her own family in her own meetings, may none else 
be present?" 

Governor. "If you have nothing else to say but that, it is a pity, Mr, Cod- 
dington, that you should intei'rupt us in proceeding to censure." 

Despite this reproof, Mr. Coddington had liis say, and one of the assistants 
(Stoughton) insisting, the ministers were compelled to I'epeat their testimony 
under oath; whicli they did after much parleying atui with evident reluc- 
tance. It is curious to observe that in this trial the by-standers were several 
times appealed to for an expression of opinion on some knotty question.' Had 
it not involved the liberty and fortunes of numy more than the Ilntchinsons, 
its ludicrous side would scarcely have been surpassed by the celebrated cause 
of"Bardell vs. Pickwick." 

There is something inexpressibly touching in the decay of an old and hon- 
orable name — in the struggle between grinding poverty and hereditary fam- 
ily pride. Instead of finding the Coddingtons, as might be ex])ected, among 
the princes of Newport, a native of the place would only shake his head when 
questioned of them. 

Touching the northern limits of Newport is a placid little basin called 
Coddington's Cove. It is a remembrancer of the old governor. The last Cod- 
dington inherited an ample estate, upon the pi'incipal of which, like Heine's 
monkey, who boiled and ate his own tail, he lived, until there was no more 
left. The Cossacks have a pi'overb : "He eats both ends of his candle at 
once." Having dissipated his ancestral patrimony to the last farthing, the 
thriftless and degenerate Coddington descended all the steps from shabby 
gentility to actual destitution ; yet, through all these reverses, he maintained 
the beai'ing of a fine gentleman. One day he was offered a new suit of clothes 
— his own had the threadbare gloss of long application of the brush — for the 
Coddington escutcheon that had descended to him. Drawing himself up with 
the old look and air, he indignantly exclaimed, " What, sell the coat of arms 
of a Coddington !" Nevertheless, he at last became an inmate of the poor- 
house at Coddington's Cove; and that is the way the family escutcheon came 
to be hanging in the City Hall. I tell you the story as it was told to me. 

The Wanton House, still pointed out in Thames Street, may be known by 
its ornamented cornice and general air of superior condition. It stands within 
a stone's-throw of the City Hall. The Wantons, like the Malbones, Godfreys, 
Brentons, Wickhams, Cranstons, and other hiixh- sounding Newport names, 



' This was called an appeal to the country. A judge would hardly, at the present day, permit 
such an expression in court. 



NEWPORT OF AQUIDNECK. 



363 



were merchants. Like tlie Wentwortlis of New Hampshire, tliis was a family, 
I might almost say a dynasty, of governors. When one Wanton went out, 
another came in. It was the house of Wanton, governing, witli iew intervals, 
from 1732, until swept from place by the Revolution.' As the king never dies, 
at the exit of a Wanton the sheriff should have announced, " The governor is 
dead. Long live the governor !" 

Joseph Wanton, the last governor of Rhode Island under the crown, was 
the son of William. He was a Harvard man, amiable, wealthy, of elegant 
manners, and handsome person. In the description of his outward appearance 
we are told that he " wore a large white wig with three curls, one falling 
down his back, and one forwai'd on each shoulder." I have nowhere met with 
an earlier claimant of the fashion so recently in vogue among young ladies 
who had hearts to lose. 

Turning out of narrow and noisy Thames Street into the broader and 
quieter avenues ascending the hill, we 
tind ourselves on the Parade before the -v v- 

State-house. Broad Street, which en- - _^ ^ ' 

ters it on one side, was the old Boston 
higli-road ; Touro Street, debouching at 
the other, loses its identity ere long in 
Bellevue Avenue, and is, beyond com- 
parison, the pleasantest walk in New- 
l)ort. 

Tiie Parade, also called Washington 
Square, is the delta into which the main 
avenues of Newport flow. It is, there- 
fore, admirably calculated as a starting- 
point for those street rambles that every 
visitor has enjoyed in anticipation. On 
this ground I saw some companies of 
the Newport Artillery going through their evolutions with the steadiness of 
old soldiers. Their organization goes back to 1741, and is maintained with an 
esprit de corps that a people not long since engaged in war ought to know 
how to estijnate at its true value. A custom of the corps, as I have heard, 
was to fire ^ feu de joie under the windows of a newly married comrade; 
if a commissioned oflicer, a field-piece. 

At the right of the Parade, and a little above the hotel of his name, stands 
the house purchased by Commodore Perry after the battle of Lake Erie ; in 




NEWPORT STATE-HOUSE. 



' William Wanton, 1732 to 1734 ; John Wanton, 1734 to 1741 ; Gideon Wanton, 1745 to 1746, 
and from 1747 to 1748 ; Joseph Wanton, from 1769 to 1775. The last named left Newport with 
the British, in 1780, and died in New York. His son Joseph, junior, commanded the regiment 
of loyalists raised on the island. 



364 



THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 




COMMODORE PERKY'S HOUSE. 



Clai-ke Street, near-by, is the church in which Dr. Stiles, afterward president 
of Yale, preached, built in 1733; and next beyond is the gun-house of the 
Newport Artillery. 

The State-house is a pleasing, though not imposing, building, known to 

all evening promenadei's in 
Newport by the illuminated 
clock in the pediment of the 
fayade. It is in the style 
of colonial architecture of 
the middle of the last centu- 
ry, having two stories, with 
a wooden balustrade sur- 
mounting the roof. The 
pediment of the front is 
topped by a cupola, and 
underneath is a balcony, 
from which proclamations, 
with "God save the king" 
at the end of them, have 
been read to assembled colonists; as in these latter days, on the last Tues- 
day of May, whicli is the annual election in Rhode Island, after a good deal 
of parading about the streets, the officials elect are here inti'oduced by the 
high sherilf with a flourish of woi'ds : "Hear ye! Take notice that liis 
Excellency, Governor , of Dashville, is elected governor, commander- 
in-chief, and captain -general of Rhode Island for the year ensuing. God 
save the State of Rhode Ibland, and Providence Plantations !" The candi- 
date smiles, bows, and witlidraws, and the populace, as in duty bound, cheers 
itself hoarse. It loves the old forms, though some of them seem cumbrous 
for "Little Rhody." Sometimes a sherifl" has been known to get his formula 
"out of joint," and to tack the words "for the year ensuing" at the end of 
the invocation. 

During the Revolution the State-house was used as a hospital by British 
and P^-ench, and of course much abused. In the restoration some little savor 
of its ancient quaintness is missed. The interior has paneled wainscoting, 
carved balusters, and wood-work in the old style of elegance. The walls of 
the Senate chamber are sheathed quite up to the ceiling, in beautiful panel- 
ing, relieved by a massive cornice. Stuart's full-length portrait of Washing- 
ton, in the Avell-known black velvet and rufiles, is here. I have somewhere 
seen that the French " desecrated," as some Avould say, the building by rais- 
ing an altar on which to say mass for the sick and dying. In the garret I 
saw a section of the old pillory that formerlj'- stood in the vacant space be- 
fore the building. Many think the restoration of stocks, whipping-post, and 
pillory would do more to-day to suppress petty crimes than months of ira- 



NEWPORT OF AQUIDNECK. 



365 



prisonmont. They still cling in Delaware to their whii>i)ing-j>ost. There, 
they assei't, the dread of public exposure tends to lessen crime. 

The pillory, which a few living- persons remember, was usually on a mov- 
able platform, which the sherift' could turn at pleasure, making the culprit 
front the different points of the compass it was the custom to insert in the 
sentence. Whipping at the cart's tail was also practiced. 

One of the finest old charactei's Rhode Island has produced was Tristram 
Burgess, who administered to that dried-up bundle of malignity, John Ran- 
dolph, a rebuke so scathing that the Virginian was for the time completely 
silenced. Having roused the Rhode Islander by his Satanic sneering at 
Northern character and thrift, his merciless criticism, and incomparably bit- 
ter sarcasm. Burgess dealt him this sentence on the floor of Congress : "Moral 
monsters can not propagate ; we rejoice that the father of lies can never be- 
come the father of liars." 

It was at first intended to place the State-house with its front toward 
what was then known as "the swamp," in the direction of Farewell Street. 
In 1743 it was completed. Rhode Isl- 
and may with advantage follow the 
lead of Connecticut in abolishing one 
of its seats of government. At ])resent 
its constitution provides tliat the As- 
sembly Siiall meet and oi'ganize at New- 
port, and hold an adjourned session at rCM 
Providence.' 

Walking onward and upward in 
Touro Street, the visitor sees at its 
junction with Kay Street what he 
might easily mistake foi- a ])retty and 
and well -tended garden, but for the 
mortuary emblems sculj)tured on the 
gate-way. The chaste and beautiful 
design of this j)oi-tal, even to the inverted flambeaux, is a counterpart of that 
of the Old Granary ground at Boston. This is the Jewish Cemetery. 

" How strange it seems ! Tliese Hebrews in their graves, 
Close V)y the street of tliis fair sea-port town. 
Silent beside the never-silent waves, 

At rest in all this moving np and down ! 

"And these sepnlchral stones, so old and brown, 
That pave with level flags their burial-place, 
Seem like the tablets of the Law, thrown down 
And broken bv Moses at the mountain's base." 




JEWISH CEMETEKY. 



' One of the most curious chapters of Rhode Island's political history was the "Dorr Rebell- 
ion" of 1842, growing out of a partial and limited franchise under the old charter. 



366 



THE SKW ENGLAND COAST. 



Close at liauJ is the synagogue, in which services are no longer held, 
though, like the cemetery, it is scrupulously cared for.' The silence and 

mystery which brood over each are 
deepened by this reverent guardian- 
ship of unseen hands. In 1762 the 
synagogue was dedicated with the so- 
lemnities of Jewish religious usage. 
It was then distinguished as the best 
building of its kind in the country. 
The interior was I'ich and elegant. 
Over the reading-desk hung a large 
brass chandelier; in the centre, and at 
proper distances around it, four others. 
On the front of the desk stood a pair of 
highly ornamented brass candlesticks, 
and at the entrance on the east side 
were four others of the same size and 
workmanship. As usual, there was for 
the women a gallery, screened with 
carved, net-work, resting on columns. 
Over this gallery another rank of col- 
umns supported the roof. It was the 
commonly received opinion tliat the 
lamp hanging above the altar was 
never extinguished. 
The Hebrews began to settle on the island before 1677. The deed of their 
ancient burial-place is dated in this year. They first worshiped in a private 
house. Accessions came to them from Spain, from Portugal, and from Hol- 
land, with such names as Lopez, Riveriera, Seixas, and Touro, until the con- 
gregation numbered as many as three hundred families. The stranger be- 
comes familiar with the name of Touro, which at first he would have Truro, 
from the street and park, no less than the respect with which it is pronounced 
by all old residents. The Hebrews of old Newport seem to have fulfilled the 
destiny of their race, becoming scattered, and finally extinct. Moses Lopez 
is said to have been the last resident Jew, though, unless I mistake, the He- 
brew physiognomy met me more than once in Newport. This fraction 
formed one of the curious constituents of Newport society. Its history is 
ended, and ''^I^inis'''' might be written above the entrances of synagogue and 
cemetery. 

Lord Chesterfield once told Lady Shirley, in a serious conversation on the 
evidences of Christianity, that there was one which he thought to be invin- 




JEWS' SYNAGOGUE, NEWPORT. 



^ A fund bequeathed by Abraham Touro, who died in Boston in 1822, secures this object. 



NEWPORT OF AQUIDNECK. 



367 



cible, namely, the present state of the Jews— a fact to be accounted for on no 
human principle. The Hebrew customs have remained inviolate amidst all 
the strange mutations which time has 
brought. The Sabbath by which Sliy- 
lock registered his wicked oath is still 
the Christian's Saturday. In the Jew- 
ish burial rite the grave was filled in 
by the nearest of kin. 

In no other cemetery in New En- 
gland have I been so impressed with 
the sanctity, the inviolability of the 
last resting-place of the dead, as here 
among the graves of a despised people. 
The idea of eternal rest seemed really 
present. Not long since I heard the 
people of a thriving suburb discussing 
the removal of their old burial-place, 
bodily — I mean no play upon the woi-d 
— to the skirts of the town. Being 
done, it was thought the land would 
])ay for the removal, and prove a prof- 
itable speculation. Since Abraham 
gave four hundred shekels of silver for 
the field of Ephron, the Israelites have 
reverenced the sepulchres wherein they 
bury their dead. Here is religion without ostentation. In our great mauso- 
leums is j)lenty of ostentation, but little religion. 

The visitor here may note another distinctive custom of this ancient peo- 
ple. The inscription above the gate reads, "Erected 5603, from a bequest 
made by Abraham Touro."' They compute the passage of time from the 
creation. 

An hour, or many hours, may be well spent in the Redwood Library, found- 
ed by Abraham Redwood,^ one of the Quaker magnates of old Newport. 




JLUAII TULKO. 



' Judah Touro, the philanthropist, was horn here in Xewpoi-t. in ITTo, tlie year of American 
revolt. His father, the old rabbi, Isaac, came from Holland, officiating as preacher in 1TB2 in 
Newport. When still a young man, Judah Touro removed to New Orleans, where he acquired, a 
fortune. He was a volunteer in the battle of 1815, and was wounded by a cannon-ball in the hip. 
Though a Jew, Judah Touro was above sect, generously contributing to Christian church enter- 
prises. Bunker Hill Monument, toward which he gave ten thousand dollars, is a memorial of his 
patriotic liberality. 

* It was incorporated 1747: tlie same year Mr. Kedwood gave five hundred pounds steriing. in 
books, or about thirteen hundred volumes. Tlie lot was the gift of Henry rollins. in 1748; build- 
ing erected 1748-50 ; enlarged in 1758; and now (1875) a new bnildiiig is erecting. Abraham 



368 



THE NEW ENGLx\ND COAST. 



Ills fine and kindly face has been carefully reproduced in the engraving. The 
library building is in the pure yet severe style of a Greek temple. The 
painter Stuart considered it clas'sical and refined. It has a cool and secluded 
look, standing back from the street and shaded by trees, that is inviting to 

the appreciative 



visitor. This is 
one of the insti- 
tutions of New- 
port which all 
may j^raise with- 
out stint. It has 
grown with its 
growth ; yet, after 
repeated enlarge- 
ments, the in- 
creased collections 
in art and litera- 
ture of this store- 
liouse of thought 
liave demanded 
greater space. 

Another bene- 
factor worthy to 
be ranked with 
Abraham Red- 
wood was Charles Bird King, whose portrait is hanging in the hall. At his 
death he made a munificent bequest of real estate, yielding nine thousand 
dollars, his valuable library, engravings, and more than two hundred of the 
paintings which now adorn the walls. 

Among otiier portraits here are those of Bisliop Berkeley in canonicals, 
and of Governor Joseph Wanton, in scarlet coat and periwig, his face looking 
as if he and good living were n.o strangers to each othei-; of William Cod- 
dington,and of a long catalogue of soldiers and statesmen, many being copies 
by Mr. King. The library suffered fi'om pilfering during the British occupa- 
tion : it now numbers something in excess of twenty thousand volumes.' 

I admit the first object; in Newport I went to see was the Old Stone Mill. 
I went directly to it, and should not venture to conduct the reader by any 
route that did not lead to it. I returned often, and could only "svonder at 




THE REDWOOD LIBRARY. 



Redwood was a native of Antigua. When the lil)rary sent its committee to Stuart, with a com- 
mission to paint a full-length portrait of Mr. Iledwood, Stuart refused, for reasons of his own, to 
execute it. 

^ Dr. Ezra Stiles was librarian for twenty years. 



NEWPORT OF AQUIDNECK. 



369 



the seeming indifference of people constantly passing, bnt never lookino- 
at it. 

The Old Stone Mill stands within the pleasant inclosnre of Tonro Park, a 
])lace as fitting as any in Newport for the beginning of a sentimental jour- 
ney. It is a pretty sight on a summer's evening, tiiis green spot, dotted with 
moving figures sauntering up and down under the grim shadow of this pic- 
turesque ruin.^ By moonlight it is superb. 

No structure in America is probably so familiar to the great mass of the 
people as this ruined mill. The frequency of pictorial representation has 
fixed its general form and character until there is probably not a school-boy 

in his teens who would not be able to ^, 

make a rude sketch of it on the black- 
board. For years it has been the 
toughest historical ^j/ece de resistuHce 
our antiquaries have had to deal with, 
and by many it was supposed to em- 
body a secret as impenetrable as that 
of Stonehenge. 

The Old Mill was dozing quietly 
away on this hill, when, in 1836, the So- 
ciety of Northern Antiquaries, of Co- 
penhagen, declared it to be evidence of 
the discovery and occupation of New- 
port by Northmen, in the eleventh cen- 
tury. An historical chain was imme- 
diately sought to be established be- 
tween Dighton Rock, an exhumed skel- 
eton at Fall River, and this tower, of 
which the inscription at Monhegan Isl- 
and was believed to be another link. 

Common opinion, prior to the dec- 
laration of the Danish antiquaries, was 
that the tower was the remains of a windmill, and nothing more. In a gaz- 
etteer of Rhode Island, printed in 1819, is the following paragrapli : "In this 
town (Newport) there is now standing an ancient stone mill, the erection of 
which is beyond the date of its earliest records; but it is sui)posed to have 
been erected by the first settlers, about one hundred and eighty years ago. 
It is an interesting monument of antiquity." 




AlJltAIlAM KEDWOOD. 



' The discovery of any portion of the coast of New Engliind by Northmen belongs to the realms 
of conjectnre. It is not nnreasonable to suppose that they may have fallen in with the continent; 
but what shoidd have brought tiiem so far south as Rhode Island, when Nova Scotia must have ap- 
peared to their eyes a paradise? The vine grows there. Champlaiu called Richmond's Island Isle 
de Bacchus, on account of its grapes. 



2-1 



370 



THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 



About this time Timothy Dwight, formerly president of Yale, was in 
Newport. In his letters, published in 1822, he lias something to suy of the 

Old Stone Mill: 
" On a skirt of 
this town is the 
foundation of a 
windmill erected 
some time in the 
seventeenth cen- 
tury. The ce- 
ment of this 
work, formed of 
shell -lime and 
beach gravel, has 
all the firmness 
of lloman mortar, 
and when bro- 
ken off" frequent- 
ly brings with it 
])art of the stone. 
Time has made no 
impression on it, 
except to increase 
its firmness. It 
would be an im- 
provement in the 
art of building in 
tliis country, if 
mortar made in 
the same manner 
were to be gener- 
ally employed.'" 

All readers of early New England history know that nothing was too 
trivial, in the opinion of those old chroniclers, to be recorded. Winthrop 
mentions the digging-up of a French coin at Dorchester in 1643. It is per- 
tinent to inquire why Roger Williams, Hubbard, Mather, the antiquary, and 
correspondent of the Royal Society, Prince, Hutcliinson, and others, liave 
wholly ignored the presence of an old ruin antedating the English occupation 
of Rhode Island ? Would not Canonicus have led the white men to the spot, 
and there recounted the traditions of his people? No spot of ground in New 
England has had more learned and observing annalists. Where were Bishop 







THE OLD STONE MILL. 



* "Travels in New England and New York:" New Haven, 1822, vol. iii., p. 56. 



NEWPORT OF AQUIDNECK. 



371 



Berkeley, Rochambean, Chastellux, Lauzun, Abbe Robin, Segur, Dumas, and 
Deux -Fonts, that they make no mention, in their writings or memoirs, of 
the remarkable archoeological remains at Newport ? Yet, on the report of 
the Danish Society, nearly or quite all our American historians have admitted 
their theory of tlie origin of the Old Stone Mill to their pages. With this 
leading, and the ready credence the 
marvelous always obtains, the public 
rested satisfied.' 

The windmill was an object of the 
first necessity to the settlers. More of 
them may be seen on Rhode Island to- 
day than in all the rest of New En- 
gland. That this mill should have been 
built of stone is in no way surprising, 
considering that the surface of the 
ground must have been bestrewed with 
stones of proper size and shape ready 
to the builders' hands.^ I saw these 
fiat stones of M'hich the tower is built 
turned up by the plowshare in the 
roads. Throughout the island the walls 
are composed of them.^ 

The cut on the preceding page rep- 
resents the Old Stone Mill, with the 
moon's radiance illuminating its arches. 
It is a cylindrical tower, resting on eight 
rude columns, also circular. The arches have no proper key-stone,^ and two 
of them appear broader than the others, as if designed for the enti-ance of 
some kind of vehicle. One column is so placed as to show an inner projec- 
tion, an evident fault of workmanship. Two stages are also apparent, and 




THE PERKY MONUMENT. 



' Among the records of Newport was found one of 1740, in which Edward Pelham bequeatlied 
to his daughter eight acres of land, "with an Old Stone Wind Mill theieon standing and being, 
and commonly called and known as the Mill Field." The lane now called Mill Street appears to 
have been so named from its conducting up the hilt to the mill. The wife of Pelham was grand- 
daughter of Governor Benedict Arnold. In the governor's will, dated in 1G77, he gives direction 
for his burial in a piece of ground "being and lying in my land in or near y^line or path from my 
dwelling-house, leading to my stone-built Wind Mill in y^ town of Newport above mentioned." 

'^ I incline to the opinion that the Indians had here, as at Plymouth, cleared a considerable area. 
There the carpenters had to go an eighth of a mile for timber suitable for building. 

' Within five miles of Boston is standing an ancient stone w^indmill, erected about 1710. It 
had been so long used as a powder-magazine that no tradition remained in the neighborhood that 
it had ever been a windmill. They still call it the Old Powder-house. 

* The keys are compound, and, though rude, are tolerably defined. No two are alike ; they are 
generally of a hard gray stone, instead of the slate used in the structure. 



372 



THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 



there are two windows and a fire-place. On the inside the haunches are 
cut to receive the timbers of the first-floor, just at the turn of tlie arch. 
Some cement is still seen adhering to the interior walls. The whole tower I 
estimated to be twenty-five feet high, with an inside diameter of twenty feet. 
This was probably nearly or quite its original height. For the rude mate- 
rials, it is a remarkable specimen of masonry.' 

I could see tliat even some of the best-informed Newporters with whom I 
talked were reluctant to let go the traditional antiquity of their Old Stone 
Mill. It is more interesting when tinged with the romance of Norse vikings 
than as the prosaic handiwork of English colonists, who had corn to grind, 
tliough American antiquaries have ceased to attribute to it any other origin. 
I confess to a feeling of remorse in aiding to destroy the illusion which has so 
long made the Old Mill a tower of strength to Newport. Its beauty, when 
seen draped in ivy and woodbine, clustering so thickly as to screen its gray 
walls from view, is at least not apocryphal 

^ This biiikling may have been mentioned by Chnich in his account of Philip's War, when, after 
some display of aversion on the part of a certain captain to a dangerous enterprise, he was advised 
by the Indian fighter to lead his men " to the windmill on Rhode Island, where tliey would be out 
of danger." 





BOAT LANDING. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

PICTURESQUE NEWPORT. 

"Don't you see tlie silvery wave? 
Don't you hear the voice of God ?" 

KiRKE White. 

THERE is a walk of singular beauty along the sea-blufFs that terminate 
the reverse of the hills on which Newport is built. It is known as the 
Cliif Walk. Every body walks there. A broken wall of rock overhanging or 
retreating from its base, but always rising high above the water, is bor- 
dered by a foot-path with pleasant windings and elastic turf. The face of the 
cliff is studded witli stony pimples; its formation being the conglomerate, or 
pudding-stone, intermingled with schists. Color excepted, these rocks really 
look like the artificial cement used in laying the foundations of ponderous 
structures. They appear to resist the action of the sea with less power tlian 
the granite of the north coast. Masses of fallen rock are grouped along the 
beach underneath the clifl', around which the rising waves seethe and foam 
and hiss. 

A persistent pedestrian, liaving reached the shore at Easton's Beach, may 
pass around the southern limb of the island to Fort Adams. He may then 
make his way back to town by the Fort Road, or take the little ferry-boat 
plying between Newport and Jamestown, on Canonicut. This ramble lias 
been much, yet not undeservingly, praised. 



S74 



THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 



My first walk h6re was on one of those rare October clays that are to the 
New England climate what the bloom is to the peach. The air, after the sun 
had swept aside the vapors arising from the ocean, was intoxicating ; it was 
so light and crystal, it seemed as if it might put new life into the most con- 
firmed valetudinarian. On one side the sea glittered like silvery scales on 
fine armor. The intruding promontories of Sachuest and Seconnet bathed 
their feet in tranquil waves ; and as the eye roved along the horizon it lodged 
an instant on the island known as Cormorant Rock, betrayed by the whiten- 
ing foam around it. In the farthest sea-board a dark cloud of brooding vapor 
prolonged the land in seeming, and veiled the approach of ships. 




THE BEACH. 



Along the verge of the cliff where I walked the dash of the surf frequent- 
ly tossed a shower of fine spray as high as the shelf itself, drenching the grass, 
and immeshing for an instant among its myriad drops the fleeting hues of the 
rainbow. The rocks had a prevailing purple mass of color, fringed at the 
edge with green grass, that sometimes crept down the face of the clifi" and 
toyed with its wrinkles. 

These rocks, constantly varnished by sea- spray, sparkle with glancing 
lights that relieve the hardness of their angular lineaments. As you walk 
on, they are always presenting new profiles of grotesque resemblances. Yet 
not a sphinx of them all would tell how long the sea had been battering at 
their rugged features, or of the fire that had baked their tooth-defying pud- 
ding — Old Ocean's daily repast. Now and then, when standing on the brink 
of some table-rock, the plunge of a billow underneath caused a sensible tre- 
mor. At various points the descent of the clifts is facilitated by steps, and at 
proper stages of the tide the outlying rocks are the favorite resort of anglers 
for tautog, bass, and perch. The Forty Steps are of note as conducting to 
Conrad's Cave, a favorite haunt of lovers who have heart secrets they may no 



PICTURESQUE NEWPORT. 



375 



longer keep. The ways of such people 
are past finding out. At Niagara vows 
are whispered at the brink of the cat- 
aract. Pei'chance there is a savor of 
romance about these old sea caverns 
which plain matter- of- tact folk may 
not fathom. 

Turning away from the sea, the 
rambler perceives tlie long line of cot- 
tages, villas, and country houses, Swiss, 
Italian,English,or nondescript, to which 
these territories pertain.' These houses 
represent the best and at the same time 
the most rational feature of a semi-res- 
idence at the sea-side. People are real- 
ly at home, and may enjoy the natural 
beauties of their situation without the 
disadvantages inseparable from hotel 
life. To be sure, at Newpoit it is only 
Murray Hill or Beacon Hill transplant- 
ed. The social system revolves with 
much the same regularity as the plan- 
etary, and with no abatement of its 
exclusive privileges. But home life or 
cottage life at the sea-side is within 
the means of all those possessing mod- 
erate incomes, who are content to dis- 
pense with luxury or more house-room than they 
know what to do with ; and it is remarkable how 
little may serve one's turn where outdoor life is the 
desideratum. Those who are content to leave all the 
surplusage at home, whether of frivolity or luggage, 
and honestly mean to enjoy the shore for itself, come 
M'here they may forget the world, the flesh, and money-get- 
ting. To this sort of life— a hint borrowed of English sea- 
side customs — Newport has led the way. At Oak Blufts a 
city has sprung into existence on this plan, and the shores 
of New England are dotted with little red-roofed cottages. 

If he has come to the clitts by the Bath road, the visitor 
sees, almost at the beginning of his ramble, the summer cot- 
tage of Charlotte Cushman, whose career has some resem- 
blance to that of the gifted Mrs. Siddons. Both were poor 



,.-'< "^ 



^'•-^ 




CLIFF WALK. 



' Many of these so-called cottages cost from f 50,000 to $200,000. For the season, $2000 is 
considered a moderate rental, and ffjOOO is frequently paid. 



376 



THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 



liirls .It tlie outset of tlieir professional lives. The Englishwoman, even after 
she became famous, usually refused invitations to the houses of the great or 
opulent, excusing herself from accepting them on the ground that all her 
time was due to the public, whose continued favor she wished to merit by 
unremitting application to her studies. 

Whatever money or taste or art has been able to do towai'd the em- 
bellishment of tiie 
gi'ounds along the 
cliffs — and in this 
category are in- 
cluded Bellevue 
and other favor- 
ed avenues — has 
not been omitted. 
A horticulturist 
would see some- 
thing to notice 
every wliere. As 
^' the houses stand 
well back from 
the shore, the 
space between is 
hiid out in bi-ight- 
hued 2)arferres, 
that look like 
Persian carpets 
spread on the 
well-kept lawns. 
The eye at times 
fairly revels in 
sumptuous mass- 
es of color. Yet 
Newport Avas 
now deserted by 
the fjxshionable 

world, in the month of months, when sea and shore arc incomparably en- 
ticing and satisfying. 

In the angle formed by the meeting of Ocean and Carroll avenues is Lily 
Pond, where knights of the rod love to loiter and cast a line. If still pur- 
suing the cliffs, you pass by Gooseberry Island, wliither the old-time mag- 
nates were wont to wend for fishing, bathing, and drinking-bouts. Spouting 
IJock, where, in gales, inrolling seas are forced higli in air, lies this way. Bass 
Rock, of piscatory renown, and Brenton's Reef, the place of wrecks, show their 




THE CLIFFS. 



PICTURESQUE NEWPORT. 



377 




A NEWPOKT COTTAGE. 



jagged sides. Point Juditli and Block Island are visible from Castle Hill, 
where in foi-mer times a watch-tower stood. No other day of the seven in 
Newport is quite 
equal to Fort 
Day. Then the 
very long line of 
equipages directs 
itself upon the 
point where Fort 
Adams is located. 
On this gala-day 
the commandant 
keeps open house, 
with colors fly- 
ing, music play- 
ing, and gates 
o p e n e d wide. 
The procession 
winds around 
t lie parade, a very 
moving picture 

of peace in the lap of war. Gay scarfs instead of battle-flags wave, jewels 
instead of steel, and dog-carts instead of ammunition-carts flash and rumble. 
The crash, glitter, and animation are reminders of Hyde Park Corner or the 
13ois de Boulogne. The soldiers I saw were much improved in a})pearance 

since the war, and now seemed 
really proud of the dress they 
Avore. They jiaced the jetty 
and ramjiart in jaunty shakos, 
white gloves, and well-fitting 
uniforms, as men uot ashamed 
of themselves, and of whom Un- 
cle Sam need not be ashamed. 
Fort Adams Avas begun in 
tlie administration of the pi-es- 
ident Avhose name it bears. 
The father of the American 
navy intended Newport as a 
station for her scpiadrons of 
tlie future. To this end for- 
tifications were begun, designed to guarantee the ai)proaches to the harbor. 
At this time we were dreading our late ally, France, more than any other 
European power. Fortifying Newport against France now seems incredible, 




CHARLOTTE CUSHMAN'S RESIDENCE. 



378 



THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 



^ 



yet the Directory, with citizen Talleyrand at the helm, would either mould 
American politics to its will or trample the ancient amity in the dust. In 
1798, a French cruiser, after the capture of several American vessels, had the 
impudence to bring her prize into one of our own ports to escape the more 
dreaded English.' Mr. Adams brought citizen Talleyrand and the Directoire 
Executif to their senses;'' but Mr. Jefferson, who decidedly leaned to the 
French side of Eurojiean politics, stopped the work begun by his predecessor. 

In 1800, Mr. Humphreys, the 
naval constructer, was sent 
to examine the New England 
ports with regard to their 
eligibility as great national 
dock - yards. He reported 
that Newport possessed by 
far the most suitable harbor 
for such an establishment. 

Fort Adams was chief- 
ly constructed under the 
watchful supervision of the 
accomplished engineer, Gen- 
eral J. G. Totten. It is said 
that during the progress of 
the work a full set of plans 
of the fortress mysteriously 
disappeared, and as mysteriously re-appeared after a long interval. It is be- 
lieved in certain quarters that copies of these drawings might be found in the 
topographical bureau of the British War Office. 

Before setting out for the campaign of 1812, the Emperor Napoleon, as 
Bourrienne relates, wished to have exact information respecting Ragusa and 
Illyria. He sent for Marmont, whose answers were not satisfactory. He then 
interrogated different generals to as little purpose. Dejean, inspector of en- 
gineers, was then summoTied. "Have you," demanded the emperor, "among 
your officers any one who is acquainted with Ragusa ?'' 

Dejean, after a moment's reflection, answered, "Sire, there is a chief of 
battalion w^ho has been a long time forgotten, who is well acquainted with 
Ragusa." 

"What do you call him?" 

" Bernard." 

"Ah, stop a little; Bernard — I recollect that name. Where is he?" 




SPOUTING ROCK. 



' "R. Goodloe Harper's Speeches, p. 27")." 

^ By smashing tlieir frigates, L'Insurgente, La Vengeance, Berceau, arid making it generally 
unpleasant for them. 



PICTURESQUE NEWPORT. 379 

" Sire, he is at Antwerp, employed upon the fortifications." 

"Send notice by the telegraph that he instantly mount his horse and re- 
pair to Paris." 

The promptitude with which the emperor's orders were always executed 
is well known. A few days afterward Bernard was in Paris at the house of 
General Dejean, and shortly after in the cabinet of the emperor. He was 
graciously received, and Napoleon immediately said, " Tell me about Ragusa." 

When Bernard had done speaking, the emperor said, " CWo^k^/ Bernard, I 
now know Ragusa." He then conversed familiarly with him, and having a 
plan of the works at Antwerp before him, showed how he would successfully 
besiege the place. The newly made colonel explained so well how he wonhl 
defend himself against the emperor's attacks that Napoleon Avas delighted, 
and immediately bestowed upon him a mark of distinction wliich, says Bour- 
rienne, "he never, to my knowledge, granted but upon this one occasion." 
As he was going to preside at the council he desired Colonel Bernard to ac- 
company liim, and several times during the sitting requested his opinion upon 
the points under discussion. On the breaking-up of the council. Napoleon 
said to him, "You are my aid-de-camp." 

Bourrienne continues: "At the end of the campaign he was made "-eneral 
of brigade; shortly after, general of division; and he is now known through- 
out Europe as the first officer of engineers in existence. A piece of follv of 
Clarke's' has deprived France of the services of this distinguished man, who, 
after refusing most brilliant offers made to him by diflTerent sovereiu-ns of 
Europe, has retired to the United States of America, where he commands the 
engineers, and where he has constructed on the side of the Floridas fortifica- 
tions which are by engineers declared to be masterpieces of military skill."'* 

Bernard came to the United States in 1816, and was associated witli the 
late General Totten in carrying out the now discarded system of sea-coast 
fortifications. It is said that Colonel M'Cree, then chief of engineers, resigned 
rather than serve under him. Accord between the French engineer and 
Colonel Totten was only secured b\^ a division of the works, and agreement 
to accept, on the part of each, the other's plans. Bernard wished to construct 
one great fortress, like Antwerp or the once famous strongholds of the Quad- 
rilateral. Fortress Monroe is the result of this idea. He also planned the 
defenses of Mobile,^ 

From Fort Adams it is*a short sail across to the Dumplings, and the cir- 
cular tower of stone, built also in the administration of John Adams. Tliis 
work, now in ruins, is second only in picturesqueness to the Old Stone Mill, 



' Duke de Feltre, French minister of war. 

' He afterward returned to France, and was made minister of war. 

^ Fort Morgan was constructed by him with twelve posterns, a statement significant to military 
engineers. General Totten closed six of them, and the Confederates, wlien besieged, all but two. 



380 



THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 



if indee<l it should yield the first ])lace to that singular structure. The para- 
pet lias crumbled, and the bomb-proofs are choked with rubbish. It is about 

a hundi'ed feet from the crown of 
the parapet to the water, and, though 
the elevation is inconsiderable, is one 
of the choice points of observation in 
Xarraganset Bay. The neighboring 
rocks are of good report among fisher- 
men, and the tower and its neighbor- 
hood are places much aflected by pic- 
nic parties. Taken altogether, the old 
fort on Canonicut, with its swarthy 
rock foundations, is one of the last 
objects to fade from the recollection. 
Seen with the setting sun gilding the 
broken rampart or glancing from out 
its blackened embrasures, it embodies 
something of the idea of an antique 
castle by the sea. 

Being here on the island of Canon- 




THE DUMPLINGS. 



icut, tlie visitor will find it pleasant sauntering along the shores, or across a 
broad, smooth road leading to the farther side of the island and the ferry to 
the opposite main-land. The water between is called the Western Passage. 
When I saw it, not fewer than a liundred vessels were lying wind-bound, 
their sails spread to catch the first pulF of the land-breeze. Dutch Island, 
with its light-house, appears in full view, about midway of the passage. The 
rock formation of this side of Canonicut is largely slate, with abundant in- 
trusion of white quartz. Along the beach the slate is so decomposed as to 
give way to the pressure of the foot. 

Canonicut is a beautiful island, with graceful slopes and fertile soil. It is 
here, on the northei'u end, a cottage city is designed of summer houses, access- 
ible to people who do not keep footmen or carriages, or give champagne 
breakfasts. Five hundred acres have been laid out in avenues, parks, and 
drives: the shores, by special reservation, are to remain forever open for the 
equal enjoyment of all who resort hither.' 

At the coming of D'Estaing and the French fleet, Canonicut was garri- 
soned by Brown's provincial corps, and two regiments of Anspach, who were 
compelled to evacuate it. The French land troops then took possession of 



' Canonicut is about seven miles long, its longest axis lying almost north and south. It in- 
cludes a single township, incorporated 1678, by tlie name of Jamestown. The island was pur- 
chased from the Indians in 1657. Prudence Island, six miles long, is also attached to James- 
town. 



PICTURESQUE NEWPORT. 



381 



the Dumpling and Beaver Tail batteries.' In the year 1749 a liuht-house 
was erected ou Beaver Tail. 

Newport lias not treasured the memory of the Hessians. They v.ere 
never in favor, being about equally 
feared and hated. At the battle of 
Long Island they pinned American 
soldiers to the trees with their bayo- 
nets. Loaded down with arms and 
accoutrements, they marched and 
fought with equal phlegm. As for- 
agers tliey were even more to be 
dreaded than in battle, as they usually 
stripped a garden or a house of its 
last root or crust. Brutalized by the 
removal of the only incentive that is 
lionorable in the soldier, they lived or 
died at so much per head. 

Newport as a British garrison was 
the resort of numbers of courtesans, 
many of whom had followed the army 
from New York. Quarrels between 
Hessian and British officers, growing 
out of their amours, were frequent. A 
Hessian major and captain at last 
fought a duel about a woman of the 
towHjin which glorious cause the ma- 
jor was run through the body and 
killed. General Prescott then ordered 
all the authors of these troubles to be 
confined in Newport jail. 

Driving in Newport is one of the 
duties the fashionable world owes to itself and to society. On every tine 
day between four in the afternoon and dusk Bellevue Avenue is thi'onged 
with equipages, equestrians, and promenaders. Nowhere in America can so 
many elegant turnouts be seen as here: every species of vehicle known to the 
wheeled vocabulary is in requisition. The cortege is not, as might be sup- 
posed, a racing tnob, but a decorous-paced, well-reined procession — a sort ot 
reunion upon wheels of all that is brilliant and fascinating in Newport society. 
The quiet though elegant carriages with crests on them are Bostonian ; the 
most "stylish" horse-furniture and mettled horses are at home in Central 




HESSIAN GHENADIER. 



' At this time four British frigates and several smaller craft were destroyed. The French 

forced the passage on the west of Canonicut, and raised the blockade of I'lovidence. 



382 



THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 




Park; Philadelphia is self-contain- 
ed, and of substantial elegance. 
Imagine this pageant of beautiful 
women and cultivated men pass- 
-i - ing and repassing, mingling and 

separating, smiling, saluting, admir- 
ing, and admired; the steady beat of hoofs on the hard gravel and continu- 
ous roll of wheels proceeding without intermission, until the whole becomes 
bewildering, confused, and indistinct, as if the whirl of wheels were indeed 
" in your brain." 

When " The Drive " is spoken of, that through Bellevue and Ocean avenues 
— with, on Fort days (Wednesdays and Fridays), the detour to the fortress and 
so back to town — is meant. Another charming drive is by the Bath road, 
then skirting the beaches, to continue on through Middletown, where the hills 
are still blistered with the remains of Revolutionarj' intrenchments. Paradise 
and Purgatory are both reached by this road, and are within easy distance of 
any part of Newport. 

On two occasions when I crossed the beaches the sea was running too 
heavily to make bathing practicable. The surf, too, was much discolored 
with sea-wrack and the nameless rubbish it is always turning over and over. 
Groups of bathing-houses were dispersed along the upper margin of the strand. 



PICTURESQUE NEWPORT. 



383 




THE DRIVE. 



r 




^ 



They are not much larger tlian, and bear a strong resemblance to, sentry- 
boxes. When feasible, bathing is regulated by signals, flags of ditFerent col- 
ors being used to designate the hours assigned to males or females. The floor 
of the beach is hard and gently slielving. There being little tide, a plunge 
into the sea may be enjoyed without danger from quicksands or under-tow. 
On the eastern side of Easton's Point, which divides what would otherwise 

be a continuous beach into — ___^^^ 

two, is Purgatory Bluff", a 
mass of conglomerate split 
asunder by some unknown 
process of nature. The two 
faces of the fissure appear 
to correspond to each other, 
but no other force than that ||\i' 
which smote may restore 
them. A place used to be 
shown on the irregular sur- 
face of the rocks above where 
the Evil Spirit of the red 
men once dragged a squaw, 
and, in spite of her frantic 
struggles, which might be traced, dispatched her, and flung the body into the 
chasm. Anotlier and more recent legend is, that here a lover was dared by 
his mistress to leap across the chasm, some fourteen feet, her glove to be the 
guerdon of his success. The feat was performed, but the lover flung the 
glove into the face of his silly mistress. What seems curious in these fractures 
of pudding-stone, the pebbles break in the same direction as the mass of rock.' 




^ «Q :ff&»-\ 



PURGATOKV BLUFF. 



> The chasm is one hundred and sixty feet in length, witli an average deptli of about sixty feet. 



384 



THE KEW ENGLAND COAST. 




WHITEHALL. 



Hanging Rock, a favorite haunt of good Dean Berkeley, is a cavity or shelf 
where it would be practicable to sit, and, while looking off to sea, indulge in 
dreamy musings, Haifa mile farther on is the house he built, and afterward; 
on his departure from the country, gave to Yale. It bears the pretending 
name of Whitehall, for, though comfortable-looking, it is little palatial. 

The dean, it is said, told the painter, Smibert, who ventured to betray 

some distrust of his patron's 
sanguine belief in tlie fu- 
ture importance of Newport, 
" Truly, you have very little 
foresight, for in fifty years' 
time every foot of land in 
this place will be as valuable 
as in Clieapside." If he in- 
deed made the remark at- 
tributed to him, he was only 
a century or so out of his 
reckoning. 

The name and fame of 
George, Bishop of Cloyne, 
the friend of Swift and of 
Steele, the jjrofessor of an ideal philosophy, and the projector of a Utopian 
scheme for evangelizing and educating the Indians, is dear to the people of 
Newport. He came to America in 1728 with the avowed purpose of estab- 
lishing a college, " to be erected on the Summer Islands," the "still vext Ber- 
inoothes " of Shakspeare. 

Berkeley is perhaps more familiar to American readers by four lines — of 
Avhich the first is as often misquoted as any literary fragment I can call to 
mind — than by his philosophical treatises: 

"Westward the course of empire takes its wny; 
The four first acts already past, 
A fifth shall close the drama with tlie day : 
Time's noblest offspring is the last." 

The residence of the dean at Newport was a forced retirement, the sum 
of twenty thousand pounds promised by Sir Robert Walpole in aid of his 
college never having been paid. In this college, "he most exorbitantly pro- 
posed," as Swift humorously remarked, " a whole hundred pounds a year for 
himself, forty pounds for a fellow, and ten for a student." Seven years were 
passed in literarj^ pursuits; " The Minute Philosopher," of which no one who 
comes to Newport may go ignorant away, being the offspring of his medita- 
tions. Along with the dean came John Smibert, of whose canvases a few re- 
main scattered over New England, and whose chief excellence lay in infusing 



PICTURESQUE NEWPORT. 



385 



the love of his art into such men as Copley, Trumbull, and Allston.' Pope 
assigns to Berkeley "every virtue under heaven," There is no question but 
that he was as amiable and learned as he was thoroughly speculative and 
unpractical. 

The return to town by Honyman's Hill, named from the first pastor of 
Trinity, is tiioroughly enjoyable and interesting. The historical student may 
here see how near 
tlie Americans 
were advanced 
toward the cap- 
ture of Newport. 
An old windmill 
or two or a farm- 
house are pictur- 
esque objects by 
the way. 

" I saw," says 
Miss Martineau, 
" the house which 
Berkeley built in 
Rhode Island — 
built in the par- 
ticular spot where 
it is, that he might 
have to pass, in 
his rides, over the 
hill which lies 
between it and 
Newport, and 
feast himself with 
the tranquil beau- 
ty of the sea, 
the bay, and the 
downs as they 
appear from the Washington park, newpokt. 

ridge of the eminence. I saw the pile of rocks, with its ledges and recesses, 
where he is said to have meditated and composed his 'Minute Philosopher.' 
It was at first melancholy to visit these his retreats, and think how empty 
the land still is of the philosophy he loved." 




' Sinibert planned the original Faneuil Hall, Boston. Trumbull painted lu the studio left 
vacant by ISmibert. 

25 




D ESTAING. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 



THE FRENCH AT NEWPOET. 

"Grenadiers, rendez-vous I" 

"La Garde meurt et ne se rend pas." 

"Braves rran9ais,. rendez-vous ; voiis serez traite's comme les premiers soldats da monde." 

^' La garde meurt et ne se rend pas.'''— Old Guard at Waterloo. 

\ NOTHER phase of Newport in by-gone days was the sojourn of our 
J-X. Fi-eiich allies in the Revolution. Then there were real counts, and 
dukes, and marquises in Newport. Tliere had also been a British occupa- 
tion ; but the troops of his Britannic Majesty ruined the town, humiliated 
its pride, and crushed its prejudices under an armed heel. On the other 
hand, the French soldiers respected jjroperty, were considerate in their treat- 
ment of the inhabitants, and paid scrupulously for every thing they took. In 
time of war a gai-risoned town is usually about equally abused by friend or 



THE FRENCH AT NEWPORT. 337 

enemy. Here the approach of the French was dreaded, and their departure 
regarded as a misfortune. 

Apropos to the good behavior of our Frencli friends is the testimony of 
an eye-witness, who says : " The different deputations of savages who came to 
view their camp exhibited no surprise at the siglit of the cannon, the troops, 
or of their exercise; but they could not recover from tlieir astonishment at 
seeing apple-trees loaded with fruit above the tents which the soldiers had 
been occupying for three months." The English, during their occupation, 
had burned almost the last fo/est-tree on the island. 

The astonishing spectacle of monarchy aiding democracy against itself is 
one of the reflections suggested by the alliance. Besides Louis Seize, other 
crowned heads would willingly have helped America as against the old "Ter- 
magant of the Seas," had not the idea been too illogical. The Empress 
Catherine II. is reported as having hinted, in a private interview with Sir 
James Harris,' at tiie possibility of restoring European peace by renouncing 
the struggle England was making with her American colonies. "May I ask 
your Majesty," said the ruse old Briton, "if this would be your policy in case 
the colonies had belonged to you ?" 

" J'aimerais mieux perdre ma tete," replied the empress (I would sooner 
lose my head). 

Kaiser Joseph repulsed the idea with equal candor and bluntncss: "Ma- 
dame, mon metier a moi c'est d'etre royaliste " (Madam, my trade is to be 
a royalist). 

This was not the first move France had jnade to detach the American 
colonies from the British crown. P"'ar back in the day of the Puritans the 
thing had been attempted. Again, in 1767, M. de Choiseul dispatched Baron 
De Kalb on a secret mission. The baron came, saw, and made his report. 
He wrote from Boston in March, 1768, that he did not believe it possible to 
induce the Americans to accept foreign aid, on account of their fixed faith in 
their sovereign's justice.'' We were still, while growling, licking the hand 
that smote us. And this little fragment shows that before the day of Caron 
Beaumarcliais, of " Sleek Silas," of " Sleek Benjamin," ^lie idea of assistance 
was already germinating. France was to heave away at the old British 
empire as soon as she had found a fulcrum on which to rest her lever. 

D'Estaing came first to Newport; but his appearance, like tliat of a me- 
teor, was very brilliant and very brief. Besides being vice-admiral, he was also 
lieutenant-general, and brought with him something in excess of fifteen hun- 
dred land soldiers, without counting the marines of his fleet. The chevalier 
advanced his squadron in two divisions, one ascending the Narraganset, the 
otlier the Seconnet passage. He cannonaded Sir Robert Pigot's batteries, de- 



' Britisli ambassador at St. retersburg, afterward Lord Malmesbury. 
* Massachusetts Files. 



388 



THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 




EAKL HOWE. 



with great circumspection. 



sti'oyed some British vessels, and caused some addition to the national debt 
of England. Then, when the pear was ready to fall, at sight of Earl Howe's 
fleet he put to sea, and was battered by his lordship and by storms until he 
brought his shattered vessels into Boston Harbor, where he should refit, and 
taste Governor Hancock's wine. 

The Americans, who had advanced under Sullivan within two miles of 
Newport — old continentals, militia, and volunteer 
corps, full of fight and confident of success — were 
obliged to withdraw in good order but bad tem- 
per. Sullivan secured his retreat by a brilliant 
little action at the head of the island. 

The French at Boston found themselves very 
ill received. They were accused of having aban- 
doned, betrayed Sullivan. French sailors and sol- 
diers were beaten in the streets, and their ofiicers 
seriously wounded in attempting to quell aftrays 
with the populace. D'Estaing conducted himself 
He refused to press the punishment of the lead- 
ers in these outrages; but, stung by the imputation of cowardice, offered to 
put himself, a vice-admiral of France, with seven hundred men, under the 
orders of Sullivan, who, says a French historian, "was lately nothing but a 
lawyer." 

An extraordinary number of personages, distinguished in the Revolution, 
or under the empire, its successor, served P^-ance in America. The heads of 
many fell under the guillotine. In this way perished D'Estaing. He was in 
Paris during the Reign of Terror, and present at the trial of Marie Antoinette. 
One of those ladies who met him at Boston describes him as of dignified 
presence, affable, and gracious. 

With D'Estaing came Jourdan, a shop-keeper, and the son of a doctor. 
At sixteen he was the comrade of Rochambeau, and in the same regiment 
Montcalm had commanded in 1743. The Limou- 
sin shows with prid^ to the stranger the old 
wooden house, with dark front, in which the 
conqueror of Fleurus was born. The marshal 
who had commanded the army of the Sambre et 
Meitse became the scape-goat of Vittoria. 

After D'Estaing came Rochambeau, and with 
him a crowd of young officers of noble birth, for- 
tune's favorites, who yet sought with the eager- 
ness of knights-errant to enroll themselves in 
the ranks of the alliance. Gay, careless, chival- 
ric, and debonair, carrying their high-bred court- 
esy even to the front of battle, they were worthy bochambeau. 




THE FRENCH AT NEWPORT. 



889 




sons of the men who at Fontenoy advanced, liat in hand, from the ranks, and 
sahited their English enemies: "Apres vons, messieurs ies Anglais; nous ne 
tirons jamais Ies premiers" (After you, gentlemen ; we never tire first). 

Having in some respects remained much as when the French were here, 
there is no greater difficulty in heating our imaginary rappd than in suppos- 
ing Newport peopled when walking at night through its deserted streets. 
We suppose an intrenched camp drawn across the island from the sea to 

the harbor, having town, 
fleet, and transports under 
its wing, and batteries on 
all the points and islands. 
Twelve days sufficed to se- 
cure the position to the sat- 
isfaction of Kochambeau, 
who shrugged his shouldei-s, 
saying, as another and 
greater said after him, "I 
liave them now, these En- 
glish." Yet Washington, 
remembering Long Island 
and Fort Washington, wrote 
in July to General Heath, " I wish the Count de Kochambeau had taken a 
position on the main,"' 

Under British rule, Newport wove a muzzle; under French, a collar bris- 
tling with steel. The white standard was nn- 
folded to the breeze in all the camps and from 
the masts of shipping. Tents and marquees were 
pitched along the line and dotted the green of 
Canonicut, Rose Island, Coaster''s and Goat isl- 
ands. Bayonets brightly and cannon duskily 
flashed in the sun everywhere. Sentinels in 
white uniforms, black gaiters, and woolen epau- 
lets tramped in little paths of their own mak- 
ing. Officers in white, splendidly gold -em- 
broidered, with rich and elegant side-arms, put 
to the blush such of our poor fellows as chanced 
in their camps. In every shady spot groups 
of soldiers, gay and jovial, reclined on the 
grass, chattering all together, or laughing at the witticism of the company 
gaillard. The drum — the type military, which has scarcely changed its form 



ROCHAMBEAU'S HEAD-QOAKTERS. 




LOUIS XVI. 



' Heath then commanded at Providence : he was ordered to meet Rochambeau on his anival, 
and extend any assistance in his power. 



390 



THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 



in three hundred years — was improvised into the card - table. ^^3Ia fois,''^ 
'^^ paroles d^ho?ineur,'''' ^^ sacres,'''' and ''^ 7mlles tonnerres,^'' fLaw thickly as bullets 
at Fontenoy. 

A finer body of men had j^robably never taken the field. Many were 

seasoned in the Seven Years' War. 
Perfectly disciplined, commanded by 
generals of experience, they only ask- 
ed to be led against the hereditary 
enemy of France. Officers who had 
mounted guard at the Tuileries, and 
had been intimate with crowned 
heads, embraced the campaign with 
the careless vivacity of school-boys. 

In the present region of old houses 
is a mansion liaving a high air of re- 
spectability ; it is situated at the 
corner of Clarke and Mary streets, 
and known as the Vernon House. 
This was the Quartier General of the 
Count Rochambeau, one of the four 
supreme generals of France in those 
days. The count was a brave old 
soldier, rather short in stature, rather 
inclined to fat, Avith a humane soul 
and noble heart. He was hampered 
by his instructions, and his army lost 
time here, to the vexation of Wash- 
ington, and chagrin, it is believed, of 
himself Hear what he says when 
teased by a younger soldier to begin 
the fighting : 

" I owe it to the most scrupulous 
examination of my conscience, that 
of about fifteeen thousand men killed 
or wounded under my orders in diifer- 
ent grades and in the bloodiest actions, I have not to reproach myself with 
having caused the death of a single one to gratify my own ambition. 

" Le vieux peee Rochambeau." 

It was to Lafayette, burning with the desire to see his countrymen sig- 
nalize their coming otherwise than by balls, routs, and reviews, that the letter 
was addressed. Rochambeau was under the orders of Washington, yet many 
of l)is officers disliked being commanded by Lafaj-ette, their junior in military 
service, or by lawyers, blacksmiths, and book-sellers. 




B^ Trench Fleet \ 



MILITARY MAP OF RHODE ISLAND, 1778. 



THE FRENCH AT NEWPORT. 



391 



isfVf^N. 




The career of M. de Ternay, admiral of the fleet, was soon eiHled. He died 
in Newport, and was buried in Trinity Chuj-ch-yard. One of liocha.nbeau's 

staff-oflicers ascribes his deatli to clia- 
grin in consequence of having permit- 
ted five English ships to esca])e him 
without a general engagement. These 
ships were then on tlieir way to join 
Admiral Rodne}-. It is certain he was 
openly denounced by many officers of 
rank for too great caution. Kocliam- 
beau says: 

"Newport, December IStli, 1780. 
" I set out from here on the 12th to 
visit Boston and M. Hancock, leaving 
here M. de Ternay with a sliglit fever, 
wliich announced nothing sei-ious. On 
the 16th, in the moi-ning, I received a 
courier from Baron de Viomenil, an- 
nouncing his death on the morning 
of the 15th. I returned at once, and 
reached here yesterday evening." 
A mural tablet of black marble insci-ibed with golden letters was sent 
from France. The admiral's grave happening not to be contiguous to the 
ehurch or church -yard wall, a wall was built to support the slab. Since 
then it has been removed to the vestibule of Trinity Church, and a granite 
stone, at the instance of the Mai-quis de Noailles, has replaced it above tbo 
grave. The first house, built in 17G2, was succeeded 
in 1726 by the present edifice. An organ was pre- 
sented by Bishop Berkeley, whose infant daughter 
lies in the church-yard. 

In March, l781,Wasl)ington, accompanied by La- 
fayette, came to Newport, and was received by Ro- 
chambeau in the Vernon House. The curious in- 
terest with which the American general was regard- 
ed by his allies is sufficiently evident in their ac- 
counts of him. He at once commanded all their 
admiration and respect, and M'as perhaps their only 
ideal not destroyed by actual contact. They still show the visitor the house 
in Church Street where Washington led the dance Avith " the beautiful Miss 
Champlin," and where the French officers, taking the instruments from the 
musicians' hands, played the minuet, "A successful Campaign." 

Another of the noblesse of the army was the Viscount de Noailles, in 
whose regiment Napoleon was afterward a subaltern. Two grateful tasks 




BARON VIOMENIL. 



392 



THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 



fell to his shai-e in the war. As ambassador to England, lie delivered to Lord 

Weymouth intelli- 
gence of the alliance 
and acknowledgment 
of the independence 
of the thirteen States. 
His manner was said 
to have been very of- 
fensive, and consid- 
ered tantamount to a 
challenge. An equal- 
ly agreeable duty de- 
volved upon him as 
one of the commis- 
sioners to arrange the 
capitulation of York- 
town. 

The alliance was 
a bitter draught for 
England. She offer- 
ed, in 1781, to cede 
Minorca to Russia if 
M the empress would ef- 
fect a peace between 
France, Spain, and 
herself; but stipula- 
ted that there should 
be an express condi- 
tion that the French 
should immediately 

evacuate Rhode Island and evei-y other part of his Majesty's colonies in 

America; "no stipulation or agreement whatever to 

be made with regard to H. M. rebellious subjects, 

who could never be suifered to treat through the 

medium of a foreign power." 

The Dutch republic, influenced by John Adams, 

having declai-ed for the alliance, England demand- 
ed satisfaction. Then Frederick the Great got his 

" dander" up. Said he, "Pnisque les Anglais veulent 

la guerre avec tout le monde, ils I'auront" (Since 

the English wish war with all the Avorld, they shall 

have it). So much for him who was then called in 

the court circles of Europe " Le Yieux de la Mod- 




trinity CHUKCH. 




THE FRENCH AT NEWPORT. 



393 



tagne" (Old Man of the Mountain). Spain was arming. England continued 
to ply the empress through her favorite and debaucliee, Potemkin. llussia, 
as head of the Northern League, now held the key of European politics. 
Potemkin was too adroit for British diplomacy. It is believed he had a 
secret understanding with the French ambassador, as the doctors whom Mo- 
liere makes say to each other, "Passez-raoi la rhubarbe et je vous passerai le 
sene." 

In this same year, 1 781, the mediating powers, Russia and Austria, pro- 
posed an armistice for a year, during which hostilities were to be suspended 
and peace negotiated. The American colonies were to be admitted to this 
arrangement, and no treaty signed in which they were not included. Lord 
Storraont, in notifying the refusal of England to this proposal, declining any 
intervention between herself and her colonies, pointed out that, in the then 
state of the struggle in America, a suspension of hostilities would be fatal to 
the success of his Majesty's arms. 

England could not disentangle the knot of European politics, and York- 
town brought her to her knees. Many of 
the Continental powers openly rejoiced at 
her humiliation; Catharine could scared}- 
dissemble her joy. The news reached Lon- 
don on Sunday, November 25th. Lord Wal- 
singham, who had been under-secretary of 
state, happened to be with Lord Germain 
when the messengers arrived. Without men- 
tioning the disaster to any other persons, the 
two peers took a hackney-coach and drove 
to Lord Stormont's, in Portland Place. Im- 
parting their intelligence, his lordship joined 
them, and they proceeded to the chancellor's, 
where, after a short consultation, it was de- 
termined they would communicate it in per- 
son to Lord North. The first minister's firm- 
ness, and even his presence of mind, gave way 
under this crusliing blow. He is represent- 
ed as having received it " as he would ha^e 
taken a ball in his breast, for he opened 
his arms, exclaiming wildly, as he paced up 
and down the apartment, ' O God ! it is all 
over '"' LAuztJN. 

The American is now living who will see justice done tlie memory of 
Georo-e III. He was neither a bad king nor a bad man. Like his antagonist, 
Louis Seize, he was possessed of strong good sense, which accounts, perhaps, 
says one, for the decapitation of Louis by the French. A well-informed au- 




394 



THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 



thority attributes the insanity of George III. to the revolt of his American 
colonies. Just as he was taken ill, in 1788, he said, after the last levee he 
held, to Lord Thurlow, who was advising him to take cai'e of himself, and re- 
turn to Windsor, "You, then, too, my Lord Thui'low, forsake me and suppose 
me ill beyond recovery; but whatever you and Mr. Pitt may think or feel, I, 
that am born a gentleman, shall never lay my head on my last pillow in peace 
and quiet as long as I remember the loss of my American colonies.'" 

But to come back to our Frenchmen. Of others wliose sabres and spurs 
have clanked or jingled on the well-worn door-stone 
of the Vei'non House vvas Biron, better known as the 
roue Lauzun. There being no forage on the island, 
Lauzun's cavalry and the artillery horses were sent 
for the winter to Lebanon, Connecticut, a place the 
dlike compares to Siberia. Lauzun had the talents 
that seduce men as well as women. Traveled, 
speaking English well, gay and audacious, he was 
among men the model of a finished gentleman, and 
among women the type of such dangerous raillery 
that many, in order to control him, gave the lie to 
the proverb, " We liate whom we fear." 

At Berlin Lauzun had been a prodigious favor- 
ite with Frederick. His connection with the Duke d'Orleans (Egalite) proved 
his ruin. At forty-six, having unsuccessfully commanded the republican 
armies in La Vendee, he was guillotined in 1793. 
Mademoiselle Laui'ent,his mistress, attended him 
to the last. He would not let his hands be tied. 
"We are both Frenchmen," said he to the exe- 
cutioner; "we shall do our duty." Thus exit 
Biron, capable of every thing, good for nothing. 
The elegant and accomplished Marquis Chas- 
tellux, whose petits soxhpers at Newport were 
the talk of every one who had the good fortune 
to be invited, and whose "Travels in America," 
])artly printed on board the French fleet, are so 
charmingly written ; the brave Baron Viomenil, 
second in command, distinguished for gallantry 
at Yorktown ; headlong Charles Lameth, who fought the young Duke de Cas- 
tries in the Bois de Boulogne ; Mathieu Dumas, aid to Rochambeau, and af- 




MATHIEU DUMAS. 




DEDX-PONTS. 



* The manner and matter of his reception of Mr. Adams were equally those of gentleman and 
king. Contrast him with the Prince Regent, and his remark to the French ex-minister, Calonne, 
during his father's sudden illness, in 1801 : " Savez-vous, Monsieur de Calonne, que mon pere est 
aussi foil que jamais?" (Do you know, Monsieur de Calonne, that my father is as crazy as ever?) 
Thackeray could not do him justice. 



THE FRENCH AT NEWPORT. 



395 



He 




DE BAUHAS. 



terward fighting at Waterloo, were prominent figures in an army pre-eminent 
among armies for tlie distinction of its leaders. 

La Peyrouse, in October, made liis escape through tlie Englisli blockade 
during a severe gale, in which his vessel was dismasted; though, fortunately, 
not until the enemy had given up the chase. He carried with him Rocham- 
beau's son, charged with an account of the conference at Hartford and the 
necessities of the Americans. 

Berthier, the military confidant of Napoleon, was of this army, 
barked for America, a captain of di-agoons in the 
regiment of Lorraine, and here won the epaulets 
of a colonel. There were also two brothers sei-ving 
under the name of Counts Deux-Ponts. One of them. 
Count Christian Deux-Ponts, was captured by Nel- 
son, while on a boat excursion with sevei-al friends, 
off Porto Cavallo. Southey, in his "Life of Lord 
Nelson," says he was a prince of the German Em- 
pire, and brother to the heir of the Electorate of 
Bavaria. Nelson, then a young captain, after giving 
his prisoners a good dinner, released them.' 

It would require a broad muster-roll merely to 
enumerate the distinguished of Rochambeau's expeditionary armv. I have 
not yet mentioned De Broglie, Vauban, Champcenetz, Chabannes, De Mel- 
fort, and Talleyrand; nor De Barras, La Touche, and La Clocheterie; nor 
Desoteux, leader of Chouans in the French Revolution. To have withstood 
the assaults of so much wit, gallantry, and condescension, Newj)ort must 
have been a city of vestals ; yet, according to the good Abbe Robin, his 
countrymen gave few examples of that gallantry for which their nation is 
famed. One remarkable instance of a wife reclaimed, when on the j)oint of 
yielding to the seductions of an epauleted stranger, is related by him. The 
story has a fine moral for husbands as well as wives. 

The expected arrival of this army spread terror in Newport. The French 
had been represented as man-eaters, whereas they were only frog-eaters. The 
country was deserted, and those whom curiosity had brought to Newport en- 
countered nobody in the streets. Rochambeau landed in the evening. These 
fears Avere soon dissipated by the exact discipline enforced in the camps. 
They tell of pigs and fowls passing unmolested, and of fields of corn standing 
untouched in their midst. 

Beautiful Miss Champlin, charming Redwood, the distin(/ue Misses Hun- 
ter, and the Quaker vestal, Polly Law^ton, are names escaped to us from the 

' The fellow-prisoner of Count Christian Deiix-Ponts was an Irishman, named Lynch, who 
lielonged also to Rochambean's army. Fearful that his nationality might be discovered, lie begged 
the count to be on his guard. When at table, and heated with wine, the secret was divulged by 
the count ; but Nelson, as Segur relates, pretended not to have heard it. 



396 



THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 



memoirs of Gallic admirers ; yet there was only a single suicide in the French 
ranks justly chargeable to an American love account;' and this did not occur 
in Newport. 

One of the French regiments at Yorktown was as famous in Old-World 
annals as any battalion that ever stood under ai'tns. This was the regi- 
ment of Auvergne. Wherever men might march, Auvergne was seen or 
heard. Once, when in the advance of the army — it was always there — 
one of its captains, sent out to reconnoitre, was surrounded in the darkness 
by foes, A hundi-ed bayonets were leveled at his breast. "Speak above a 
whisper and you die," said the German officer. Captain D'Assas saw him- 
self in the midst of a multi- 
tude of enemies, who were 
stealthily approaching his 
weary and unsuspecting 
comrades. In an instant 
his resolution was taken. 
Raising himself to his full 
height, that he might give 
his voice greater effect, 
he cried out, "A moi, Au- 
vergne ! voila les enne- 
niis!'"and fell dead as the 
French drums beat " To 
arms !" The regiment was 
very proud of its motto, 
""/Sans tache.^^ 

In this regiment was 
Philip d'Auvergne, " the 
first grenadier of France," 
of whose prowess storiei^ 
little less than marvelous 
are told. When the corpis 
came to America its namo 
had been changed to Ga- 
tinais, whereat there was 
much grumbling among 
these aged mustaches. There were two redoubts at Yorktown to be taken. 
One was assigned to Lafayette and his Americans, the other to the French. 
The grenadiers of Gatinais were to lead this attack ; and, as it was expected 
to be bloody, Rochambeau himself addressed them, "My friends," said he, 




LATOUR D'AUVERGNE. 



' That of Major Galvan, who pistoled himself on account of unrequited love. 
° Rally, A'lveignel here is the enemy! 



THE FKENCH AT NEWPORT. 397 

"if I should want you this night, I hope you have not forgotten that we have 
served together in that brave regiment of Auvergne,'«S«7<6' T^acAe.'" "Prom- 
ise, general, to give us back our old name, and we will suffer ourselves to be 
killed, to the last man." The promise was given, the redoubt won, and Kinf 
Louis confirmed the pledge. In token of its peerless valor Washington pre- 
sented the regiment with one of the captured cannon. 

The comfortable and contented lives of the French soldiers daily aston- 
ished our poor and tattered, but unconquerable ragamuffins. At parade they 
appeared so neat and gentleman-like as hardly to be distinguished from their 
officers. They were paid every week, and seemed to want for nothing. No 
sentinel was allowed to stand on his post without a warm watch-coat to 
cover him. The officers treated their soldiers with attention, humanity, and 
respect, neglecting no means of inculcating sentiments of honor. Stealing 
was held by them in abhorrence. As a consequence, punishments were ex- 
tremely rare, desertions unfrequent, and the health of the troops excellent. 

Speculations more or less unfavorable to French disinterestedness, more 
or less destructive of American enthusiasm for the alliance, must arise from a 
knowledge of the secret policy of France in coming to the aid of democracy. 
Possibly she hoped for the reconquest of Canada. Rochambeau would have 
first employed his forces against Castine, had he not been overruled. That 
would have been curious, indeed, to have seen France re-established at old 
Pentagoet, carrying war into Canada, as, more than a century previous and 
from the same vantage-ground, she had carried it into New England. Not 
much later she tried to wheedle and then to bully us into ceding to her the 
island of Rhode Island, in order, as urged by her, to prevent its being seized 
again at any future time by Great Britain. Her armed intervention was of 
little worth compared with the moral effect of the alliance. 

Pierre du Guast had groped his way along the coast in 1605, seeking a 
habitation. He, and his lieutenant, Poutrincourt, had well-nigh reached their 
goal when compelled to turn back, baffled, for wintry Acadia. A French 
colony, in 1005, upon Aquidneck might have changed the order of history, 
and rendered impossible the events of which this chapter is the skeleton. 





GKAViiS ON THE BLUFF, FOKT KOAD. 



CHAPTER XXV. 



NEWPORT CEMETERIES, 

" Come, my spade. There is no ancient gentlemen but gardeners, ditchers, and grave-maters : 
they hold up Adam's profession." — Shakspeare. 

ASSUMING the looker-on to be free from all qualms on the subject of 
grave-yard associations, I invite him to loiter with me awhile among 
the tombstones of buried Newport. As we thread the streets of the town, 
sign-boards or door-plates inform us who are the occupants ; and in pursuing 
the narrow paths of the burial-place, the tablets set up denote, not only the 
iinal residences, but symbolize the dread of the world's forgetfulness, of those 
who sleep there. The analogy might still be pursued, as it was an old cus- 
tom to inscribe the occupation and birthplace upon a memorial stone. Here 
is one I found in the old ground adjoining Rhode Island Cemetery : 

Here lyeth the Body 

of Roger Baster 
Bachelor Block mackr 
Aged 66 yeres He Dyed 
23 Day of Aprel 1687 

He «as one of the Fi 
rst Beginers of a Chv 

rch of Christ obsrving 

Of the 7th Day Sab 

bath of l£ LORD fN 

NE /ND BEGAN 23D ^S 1671 

The grave -yards are the first green spots. Dandelions, buttercups, and 



NEWPORT CEMETERIES. 



099 



daisies blossom earliest there. The almost imperceptible shading-off of winter 
into spring is signaled by tufts of freshly springing grass on the sunny side 
of a grave-stone; the birds build betimes among the tree -branches of the 
cemetery. Your grave-maker is always a merry fellow, who cares no more 
for carved cross-bones than for the clay-pipes so artistically crossed in shop- 
windows. 

I fuund many stones dating from l'72Gto 1800, but even these had be- 
come much defaced by time. Where freestone slabs had been used, the in- 
scriptions were either illegible or quite obliterated. Some of the older slate 
stones had been painted to protect them from tlie weatlier. The city takes 
commendable care of the grounds; yet I could not help thinking tliat a little 
money might be well spent in renewing the fading inscriptions. Throughout 
the inclosure the pious chisel of some " Old Mortality" is painfully in request. 

In a retired part of the ground I found two horizontal shibs — one of white, 
the other red, freestone — lying side by side over man and wife. I transcribed 
the epitaph of the wife, as the more characteristic : 

Here lyeth the body of Harte 
Garde the wife of Iohn Garde 
Merchant who departed this 
THE 1 6 day of September An 
DoM i66o 
Aged 55 years. 

Anotlier slate stone contained the 
singular inscription given in the en- 
graving ; and still another was let- 
tered : 

In Memory Of 

MI'S- Elizabeth Lintu 

rn widow for many 

years a noted midwife 

She departed this life 

October 23'^ 175S 

In the 63d year of her age. 

In the old Common Burying- 
ground is the following plaint : 




aJ^, 




^^-^.^^,^M^.lSx 











Here doth Simon Parrett lye 
Whose wrongs did for justice cry 
But none could haue 
And now the Graue 
Keeps him from Inivrie 
Who Departed this life 
Tie 23 Day of May 17 18 
Aged 84 years. 



400 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 

Farewell Street, by which you approach the principal cemetery of New- 
port, is not ill-named. The ground, a generally level area, permits the eye to 
roam over the whole region of graves. Glimpses of the bay and of the isl- 
ands dispersed so picturesquely about it harmonize with the calm of the 
place. Sails drift noiselessly by, and the fragrance of evergreens and of eg- 
lantine perfumes the air. There was breeze enough to bring the strains of 
martial music from the fort even here. 

It is stated, I know not how authoritatively, that the Hessians, whose hos- 
pital was close at hand, defaced many stones here by altering the inscriptions. 
Here is buried William Ellery," one of the signers of the Declaration. On 
the day of his death he rose as usual, dressed, and seated himself in the old 
flag-bottomed chair which he had sat in for more than half a century. Here 
he remained reading a volume of Cicero in Latin until his physician, who had 
dropped in, perceived that he could scarcely raise his eyelids to look at him. 
The doctor found his pulse gone. After giving him a little wine and water, 

D,.. w told him his pulse beat stronger. " Oh, yes, doctor, I have a 

charming pulse," expressing at the same time his conviction that his life was 
nearly ended, and his thankfulness that he was to pass away free from sick- 
ness or pain. He at last consented to be placed upright in bed, so that he 
might continue reading. He died thus without attracting the notice of his 
attendants, like a man who becomes drowsy and falls asleep, sitting in the 
same posture, with the book under his chin. Here is also the tonib of Gov- 
ernor Cranston, and the gray stone slab with typical skull and cross-bones, on 
which is graven the name of William Jeffei-ay, said to have been one of 
Charles Stuart's judges. Among other specimens of grave-yard literature is 
the inscription to Christopher Ellery : " The Human Form respected for its 
honesty, and known for fifty-three years by the appellation of Christopher 
Ellery, began to dissolve in the month of February, 1789." 

There is not so much qnaintness in the epitaphs here as in the old Puritan 
grave-yards of Boston and Salem ; less even of stateliness, of pomp, and of 
human pride than is usual. I missed the Latin, the blazonry, and the sounding 
detail of public service so often seen spread over every inch of crumbling 
old tombstones. The grotesque emblems of skull, cross-bones, and hour-glass 
— bugbears to frighten children — change in a generation or two to weeping- 
willows, urns, and winged cherubs. These are in turn discarded for sculp- 
tured types of angels, lambs, doves, and lilies; of broken columns and chap- 
lets. This departure from the horrible for the beautiful is not matter for 
regret. In these symbols we get all the religion of the place, and Death is 
robbed of half his repulsiveness. 

^ William Ellery Channing, the pastor of "Old Federal Street," Boston, was one of the most 
gifted and eloquent men the American pulpit has produced. His mother was the old signer's 
daughter. 



NEWPORT CEMETERIES. 



401 




On a grassy knoll in Rliocle Island Cemetery the visitor sees the granite 
obelisk, ei-ected by the State to the memory of the victorious young captain 
who, at twenty-seven, gained imperishable I'enown, Ardent, chivalrous, and 
brave. Perry showed the true inspiia- 
tion of battle in taking his flag to a ship 
still able to tight. His laconic dispatch, 
" We have met the enemy, and they are 
ours," is modestly exultant. Tiie mar- 
ble tablet of the monument's east face 
has the words, 

OLIVER HAZARD PERRY. 

At the Age of Twenty-seven Years, 

He Achieved 

The Victory of Lake Erie, 

September lo, 1813. perry's monument.' 

Within the neat iron fence that surrounds the monument are nlso the 
graves of Perry's widow, Elizabeth Champlin, and of his eldest son, Chris- 
topher Grant Perry, with the fresher one of Rev. Francis Vinton, whose wife 
was a daughter of the naval hero. From this spot the bay and all ancient 

Newport are visible. Another 
monument in the cemetery is in 
memory of General Isaac Ingalls 
Stevens, " dead on the field of 
honor." 

A prevailing ingredient of 
Newport society in the olden 
days was, doubtless, the Quaker 
element. As the religious asy- 
lum of New England, it alike re- 
ceived Jew and Gentile, Quaker 
nnd Anabaptist, followers of the 
Church of England and of Rome. 
Its complexion at the beginning 
of the eighteenth century might 
he in harmony with religious 
fi'eedom, though little homoge- 
neous; and although there was 
plenty of toleration, its religious 
character has been vaunted overmuch. It commands a passing thought that 




OLIVER HAZARD PERRY. 



' The other faces of Commodore Perry's monnmeiit recite his age, birthplace, etc. He was 
born at South Kingston in 1785, and died at Port Sjjain, Trinidad, 1811). According to a resolve 
of Congress his remains were conveyed, in 1826, in an armed vessel to the United States. 

26 



402 



THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 




FKIENDS' MEETING-HOUSE. 



all these human conipouents intermingling and assimilating in the active 
duties of lite, separate in death. Their burial must be distinct. 

The Quaker-meeting has contributed to our vocabulary a synonym for 

dullness. Old En- 
gland and New were 
in accord in perse- 
cuting the sect. It 
is related of a inim- 
ber under sentence 
of banislnnent to 
America, that sol- 
dieis from the Tow- 
er carried tliem on 
board the ships, the 
Friends refusing to 
walk and the sailors 
to hoist them on_ 
board. In the year 
1662 Hannah Wright came from Long Island, several hundred miles to the 
"bloody town of Boston," into the court, and warned the magistrates to spill 
no more innocent blood. They were at first abashed by the solemn fervor of 
their accuser, until Rawson, the secretary, exclaimed, "What! Shall we be 
baffled by such a one as tiiis? Come, let us drink a dram." 

The sufferings of the Fi-iends in New England were heightened, no doubt, 
by the zeal of some to embrace martyrdom, who, in giving way to the 
promptings of religious fanaticism, outraged public decency, and shamed the 
name of modesty in woman. Deborah Wilson went through the streets of 
Salem naked as she came into the world, for which she was well whii)ped. 
Two other Quaker women, says Mather, were whi])ped in Boston, "who came 
as stark naked as ever they were born into our public assemblies." This 
exhibition was meant to be a sign of religious nakedness in others; but the 
Puritans preferred to consider it an offense against good morals, and not a 
Godiva-like penance for the general sinfulness.' 

The Society of Friends is the youngest of the four surviving societies 
which date from the Reformation, and is, without doubt, the sternest protest 
against the ceremonial religion of Rome. George Fox, who preaclied at 



^ When appealed to by the United Colonies in 1G57 to punish Quakers, Rhode Island objected 
that no law of that colony sanctioned it. The president, Benedict Arnold, however, replied that 
he (and the other magistrates) conceived the Quaker doctrines tended to "very absolute cutting 
down and overturning relations and civil government among men." He urged as a measure of 
public policy that the Quakers should not be molested, as they would not remain where the civil 
authority did not persecute them. This has, in fact, been the history of this sect in New England. 
— See Arnold's letter, Hutchinsou, vol. i., appendix. 



NEWPORT CEMETERIES. 



403 



Xewport,' was the son of a Leicester- [ 
sliire weaver, beginning liis public as- 
sertion of i-eligious sentiments at tlie 
age of twenty-two. The ])illory some- 
times served him for a pulpit. He 
once preached with such power to the 
populace that they rescued liiin "in a 
tumultuous manner," setting a clergy- 
man who had been instrumental in his 
punishment upon the same pillory. 

Pagan superstition having origi- 
nated most of the names bestowed 
by custom on the days and montlis. 
the Friends ignore them, substituting 
in their place " first day " and " first 
month," "second day" and "second 
month" for those occurring at the be- 
ginning of our calendar. The Society 
does not sanction appeals by its mem- 
bers to courts of law, but refers dis- 
putes to arbitration, a practice well 
worthy imitation. george fox. 

George Fox mentions in his "Journal" his interview in England with Si- 
mon Bradstreet and Rev. John Norton, the agents whom Massachusetts had 
sent over in answer to the command of Charles II. Says Fox, "We had sev- 
eral discourses with them concerning their murdering our friends, but they 
were ashamed to stand to their bloody actions. I asked Simon Bradstreet, one 
of the New England magistrates, whether he had not an liand in putting to 
death these four whom they hanged for being Quakers? He confessed he had. 
I then demanded of him and his associates then present if they acknowledged 
themselves subject to the laws of England? They said they did. I then 
said by what law do you put our friends to death? They answered. By the 
same law as the Jesuits were put to death in England. I then asked if those 
Friends were Jesuits ? They said nay. Then, said I, ye have murdered them."' 




' George Fox was in Rhode Island in 1(572. On arriving at Newport, he went to the house 
of Nicholas Easton, who was then governor, and remained there din'ing his sojourn. A yearly 
meeting of all the Friends in New England was held while he remained in Newport. — "George 
Fox his Jonrnal," London, 1709. 

' Josselyn mentions the sect: "Narraganset Bay, within which bay is Rhode Island, a harbor 
for the Shnnamitish Brethren, as the saints errant, the Quakers, who are rather to be esteemed 
vagabonds than religions persons." He also attributes to them dealings in witchcraft. "Whittier, 
the Quaker poet, has depicted in stirring verse the persecutions of this people. "Cassandra ^outh- 
wick ■' is from real life. 



404 



THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 



The first Quakers came to Rliode Island in 1056. Roger Williams, in liis 
"George Fox digged out of his Burrowes," shows that tolerance did not go so 
tar with him as the Quaker fashion of wearing the hair long and flowing. 
Speaking of. one he met who accosted him with the salutation, "Fear the 
Lord God," Williams says he retorted, " What God dost thou mean — a ruf- 
fian's God ?" Through Fox's preaching some of Cromwell's soldiers became 
converted, and would not fight. He lies in the old London burying-ground 
of Bunhill Fields, among the Dissenters. 

The objection of the sect to sepulchral stones leaves little to be remarked 
of the Quaker burying-ground in Newport.' Notwithstanding the non-re- 
sistant principles of the Friends, it stands in strong light that Nathaniel 
Greene, a Quaker, and Oliver Hazard Perry, the descendant of a Quaker, 
were conspicuous figures in two of our wars. Few innovations have ap- 
peared in the manners, customs, or dress of the followers of George Fox.'* 
Their broad-brims, sober garb, and sedate carriage, their " thee" and " thou," 
may still occasionally be seen and heard in Newport streets. 

Newport contains several widely scattered burial- places, some of them- 
hardly more in appearance than family groups of graves. Not all exhibit 
the care bestowed upon such as are more prominently before tlie public eye. 
The little Clifton' cemetery, at the head of Golden Hill Street, was in a 
wretched plight. A crazy wooden paling afforded little or no protection 

fro'm intrusion. But there was no 
incentive to linger among its few 
corroded monuments and accumu- 
lated rubbish. Here are buried the 
Wantons, of whom Edward, the an- 
cestor of the name in Newport, fled 
from Scituate, Massachusetts, during 
the Quaker persecutions. 

When Washington was at Cam- 
bridge, besieging Boston, he sent 
Charles Lee to look after " those of 
Rhode Island" who were still for 
King George. Lee administered to 
the Tories who would take it an oath 
as whimsical as characteristic. He 
knew the fondness of these old roy- 




CHARLES LEE. 



alists for old wine, good dinners, and fine raiment. They were required to 



' Stones giving simply the name and date of decease ai-e now allowed. 

^ In 1708 M. de Subeicase solicited of his Government the means of attempting an enterprise 
against the island of Rhode Island. He says, "Cette isle est habite'e par des Coakers qui sont 
tous gens riches." 



NEWPORT CEMETERIES. 405 

swear fidelity to the Whig cause "by their hope of present ease and comfort, 
as well as the dread hereafter." Colonel Wanton refnsed the oath, and was, 
I presume, of those whom Lee had taken to Providence with the threat of 
forwarding them to the American camp. 

Another isolated field of graves is that usually called the Coddington 
burial-ground, containing the remains of Governor Coddington and kindred. 
A stone erected on the second centennial anniversary of the settlement of 
Newport, compresses in a few lines the chief events of his history: 

"To the memory of William Coddington, Esq., that ilhistrious man who 
first purchased this island from the Narraganset sachems, Canonicus and 
Miantonimo, for and on account of himself and seventeen others, his associates 
in the purchase and settlement. He presided many years as Chief Magis- 
trate of the Island and Colony of Rhode Island, and died, much respected 
and lamented, November 1st, 1678, aged 78 years.'" 

Lechford, in his "Plain Dealing," relates a circumstance that has caused 
some inquiry into the ecclesiastical polity of Coddington and his associates. 
" There lately," he says, " they whipt one master Gorton, a grave man, for 
denying their power, and abusing some of their magistrates with uneivill 
tearmes; the governor, master Coddington, saying in court, 'You that are 
for the king, lay hold on Gorton ;' and he again, on the other side, called forth, 
'All you that are for the king, lay hold on Coddington.' Whereupon Gor- 
ton was banished the island." Gorton was the founder of Warwick, Rhode 
Island. 

There is a little inclosure at the upper end of Tiiames Street in which is a 
granite obelisk to the memory of John Coggeshall, president of the planta- 
tions under their first patent. The name was originally Cqxehall. It is the 
same John Coggeshall briefly met with in the trial scene, to whom a lineal 
descendant has raised this monument. 

Other burial-places may be enumerated, but that lying in the shadow of 
Trinity Church is probably first to challenge the attention of such as seek to 
read the annals of the past on memorial stones. The church steeple, with 
gilded crown on the pinnacle — how these churchmen love the old emblems ! 
— was in full view from my window, slender and graceful, the gilded vane 
flashing in the morning sun, itself a monument of its ancient flock below. 

Here are the names of Hunter, of Kay, of Ilonyman, and of Malbone : all 
are to be met with in Newport streets or annals. The presence of foreign 
armies on the isle is emphasized by the burial of French and British officers 
in this church-yard. A few family escutcheons designate the ancient adher- 
ence to the dogma that all men were not created politically free and equal. 
One of the unaccustomed objects the stranger Sees in peering through the 



' Here also is the grave of Governor Henry Bull, who died in 1693, and whose ancient stone 

house is now standing in Spring, near Sherman Street. 



406 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 

railings of these old church -yards is the blazonry of which the possessors 
were once so proud, and which is now carried with them to their graves. In 
cavities where leaden coats of arms have once been imbedded are little ba- 
sins to catch .the rain, where careless sparrows drink and take their morning 
baths, twittering and chirruping among the homesteads of the dead. 

Stuart, who was fond of rambling through the old grave-yards, reading 
the inscriptions, went to Trinity. He mentions his pew, and the sweetness 
of the organ, the gift of Berkeley. The painter had a Scotsman's inordinate 
fondness for snufl", and would be most naturally drawn with palette in one 
hand and a huge pinch of snutF in the other. A resident of the same street 
once told me that when Stuart's table-cloth was shaken out at the window 
the whole street sneezed. He was a good talker and listener, though crabbed 
and eccentric to a degree. 

I venture to contribute to the already portentous number the following 
anecdote of Stuart : Dining one day at the house of Josiah Qnincy, his at- 
tention was attracted by an engraving of West's " Battle of the Boyne." 
"Ah!" said Stuart,"! was studying with West when he was at work on 
that picture, and had to lie for hours on the floor, dressed in armor, for him 
to paint me in the foreground as the Duke of Schomberg. At last West said, 
' Are you dead, Stuart V' ' Only half, sir,' was my reply ; and my answer was 
true; for the stiffness of the armor almost deprived me of sensation. Then I 
had to sit for hours on a horse belonging to King George, to represent King 
William. After the painting was finished, an Irishman who saw it observed 
to West, 'You have the battle-ground there correct enough, but where is the 
monument? I was in Ireland the other day and saw it,' He expected to see 
a meiiiorial of the battle in a representation of its commencement.'" 

In the yard of the Congregational Church in Spring Street is a slate 
grave-stone to the memory of Dr. Samuel Hopkins, settled as pastor of the 
First Congregational Church of Newport, in 1770. At first his sentiments 
were so little pleasing to his people that it was voted hj the church not to 
give him a call ; but the doctor preached a f^xrewell sermon of such beauty 
and impressiveness that the vote was recalled, and Hopkins consented to 
remain. The salient points of his character have furnished the hero for Mrs. 
Stowe's "Minister's Wooing." The First Congregational Church of New- 
port was established in 1720. 

^ Stuart was in Boston at the time of the buttle of Lexington, and managed to escape a few 
days after Banker Hill. His obituary in the Boston Daily Advertiser, a very noble tribute from 
one man of ger.ius to another, was written by Allston. 




MOUNT HOPE. 



CHAPTER XXVI. 



TO MOUNT HOPE, AND BEYOND. 

"La mattina al moiite, e la sera al fonte." — Italian Proverb. 

MOHAMMED, it is said, on viewing tlie delicious .and alluring situation of 
Damascus, would not enter that city, but turned away with the excla- 
mation, "There is but one paradise for man, and I am determined to have 
mine in the other world." 

I started on my morning walk up the island just as the clocks were strik- 
ing eight. Spiing comes in Newport very early and very verdant. Tiie 
bloom of orchard and of lilac greeted me. At every step I crushed the per- 
fume out of violets blossoming in the strip of greensward that bordered the 
broad band of road. I often looked back upon the fortunate city, mounting 
the green slopes and scattering itself among the quiet fields. The last point 
of land was visible even down to Point Judith. A faint roll of drums reached 
me from the fort. Good-bye to a pleasant place! I felt, in turning away, 
that if Damascus had been like Newport, I should have entered Damascus, 

Distant about a mile from Newport is "Tonomy," or more properly 
Miantonimo Hill, It is the highest elevation in the southern part of the isl- 
and, receiving its name as the seat of a sachem. Some remains of field-works 
are seen on its slopes.' 



' It was the fortress of the British left wing. Two large and elegant country houses at its 
base, included within tiie lines, were ociiii)ied by the oiRcers. 



408 



THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 



Near the sontliern foot of Miantonimo Hill is the old Malbone place, the 
site of a colonial niansioii celebrated in its day as the finest in Newport. It 
was destroyed by fire rather more than a century ago. Tradition avers that 
Colonel Godfrey Malbone, seeing his house in flanies, ordered the table re- 
moved to the lawn, and coolly finished his dinner there. It was a two-story 
stone-built house, which had cost the owner a hundred thousand dollars. 

]\Iany are the dark, vague, and mysterious hints let fall from time to time 

relative to the life 
of Malbone. As a 
merchant his ven- 
tures are said to 
have been lawless 
even lor his law- 
less age. His cor- 
sairs preyed upon 
the commerce of 
Fi-enchman or 
Spaniard Avithout 
regard for treaties. 
Rum and slaves 
were the commod- 
ities in which the 
Newport of his 
time trafficked 
largely. Smug- 
gling was hardly 
deemed dishonor- 
able in a mer- 
chant. As con- 
fii'ming this easy 
condition of com- 
mercial virtue, a 
writer mentions 
having seen in 
Malbone's garden 
TUE GLEN. the entrance of 

one of those subterranean passages leading to the shore I liave so often un- 
earthed. 

During the French war of George II., Newport, from its beginning to the 
year 1'744, had armed and sent to sea more than a score of privateers. It 
was called the nursery of corsairs. It was also called rich ; and the French, 
in planning its capture, facilitated by the information of a resident French 
merchant, a spy, calculated on levying a heavy contribution. "Perhaps we 




TO MOUNT HOPE, AND BEYOND. 



409 



V, 



had better burn it, as a pernicious hole, from the number of privateers there 
fitted out, as daugerous in peace as in war; being a sort of freebooter, who 
confiscates d tord et d travers^'' say they. Tliese liarsh expressions sound 
strangely unfamiliar when contrasted with French panegyric of the next gen- 
eration. 

Edward G. Malbone, a natural son, belonged to a collateral branch of the 
family.' Newport was the birthplace of tliis exquisite miniature painter and 
most refined of men. This refinement 
appears in his works, which are full of 
artistic grace and dainty delicacy. Lit- 
tle of his life was passed here, though 
that little is much prized by all who 
know his worth as a man. Allston and 
Malbone are said to have worked to- 
gether in Newport as pupils of Samuel 
King, beginning thus the friendship that 
so long subsisted between them. 

About midway of the island, on the 
eastei'n shore, is 
The Glen, once 
mure frequented 
than at present. 
A line carried 
across the island 
from this point 
would pass near 
the old farmstead, 
which was llie 
quarters of the 
British general, 
I'rescott. It is 
on the west road 
leading b}- the 
most direct route 
from Newport to 
Bristol Ferry. 

Colonel Barton, whose station was at Tiverton, conceived the idea of re- 
leasing General Lee, then a prisoner, by securing General Frescott. Having 
matured his plans, he crossed over to Warwick Neck, where he was detained 
two days by a violent storm. With him were forty volunteers, who manned 
five wliale-boats. The enemy were then in possession of both Canonicut and 



m 




\\ 



A RHODE ISLAND WINDMILL. 



' He was tlie son of John, the son of Godfiey Malbone. 



410 



THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 




WILLIAM BARTON. 



Prudence islands, with some sliipping lying under the little isle, called Hope, 
which is between Prudent.-e and the western shore of the bay. 

On the night of the 9th of July, 1777, every thing being lavorable. Barton 
informed his men for the tirst time where they were going. His party em- 
barked in their boats, rowing between 
Patience and Prudence in order to elude 
the enemy's guard-boats. Meeting with 
no obstacle, they coasted the west shore 
of Prudence, passed around the southern 
end, and landed on Rhode Island. They 
then pushed on for Overing's house, 
where they knew General Prescott was 
to be found. 

The sentinel on duty was quickly 
seized and disarmed, and the house sur- 
rounded. On entering General Prescoit's 
chamber. Barton saw him rising from his 
bed. 

"Are you General Prescott?" 
"Yes, sir." 

"Then you are my prisoner." 
The general was allowed to half dress himself, and was then conducted to 
the boats. His aid. Major Barrington, had also been taken. Arrived at the 
shore. General Prescott finished his toilet in the open air. Soon after leaving 
the island the alarm was given in the British camp. "Sir," said Prescott to 
Barton, as they stepped ashore at Warwick Neck, " you have made a d — d 
bold push to-night." The Americans had i-eturned in just si.x and a half 
hours from the time they set out. 

While on his way to the American 
head - quarters, Prescott was horse- 
whipped by an innkeeper whom he 
insulted. The situation of the house 
from which he was carried off is eas- 
ily distinguished by the pond before 
it, whose overflow falls in a miniature 
cascade into the road. Very little, 
if any, of the original building is re- 
maining. 

Talbot's achievement the next 
year was in carrying ofl" a Biitish 
armed vessel, the Pigot, that guard- 
ed Seconnet Passage and the com- 
munication between the islands and 




SILAS TALBOT. 



TO IMOUNT HOPE, AND BEYOND. 



•411 



tlie niaiii-lancl. With a few troops from the camp at Providence he manned 
a small vessel and set sail. On coming near the Pigot, Talbot caused Ids 
vessel to drift down upon her, when he carried her by boarding-. lie took his 
prize successfully into Stonington. 

The absence of forest-trees on tlie island gives it a general resemblance to 
the rolling prairie of the West. The slopes are gracefully rounded as the 
Vermont hills — ground-swells, over which the road rises or descends in reg- 
ular irregularity. Over this road that discarded vehicle, the stage-coach, once 
rolled and luix-hed, and was more wondered at tiian the train that now rat- 
tles along under the hills by the shore. 




pbescott's head-quarters. 



It is said that Dexter Brown, "an enterprising man," set np a four-horse 
stage-coach between Boston and Providence as early as 1772. When " well 
regulated," it left Providence every Monday, and arrived in Boston on Tues- 
day night; returning, it left Boston on Thui-sday, reaching l*rovidence on 
Friday night. The coach was chiefly patronized by peojtle who visited Xew- 
port for their health. On a long route, the change from one coach into an- 
other, equally cramped, might not inaptly be said to resemble an exchange 
of prisoners. 

All travelers here have remarked on the productiveness of PJiode Island. 
Its dairies and its i)oultry have always been celebrated. Orchaids bursting 
with blossoms somewhat relieved the bare aspect of the h'.lls. Fields of 
spinach and of clover varied the coloring of the pastures, wliich were shaded 
off on cool slopes into the dark green of Kentucky blue -grass. Groups of 



412 



THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 




AGRICULTURAL PROSPERITY. 



brown hay-ricks, left from the winter's store, stood impaled in barn-yards. 
Flocks of geese waddled by the roadside, O.v-teams, market-men, boys with 

droves of pigs, made the whole 
way a pastoral. On lifting the 
eye from the yellow band of 
road a windmill would be seen 
with its long arms beating the 
air. I liked to walk through 
the -green lanes that led up to 
them, and hold brief chat with 
the boy or maid of the mill, I 
shall never look at one without 
thinking of Don Quixote and 
of Sancho Panza, The lack of 
streams and water-power is thus 
.supplied by air - currents and 
wind-power. It is an ill wind 
indeed that blows nobody good 
on Rhode Island, 

I have said notliing of the fish-market of the island, and that market is of 
course centred in Newport, Dr. Dwight enumerates twenty-six ditferent 
species, to be found in their season. Sheep's-head, considered superior to tur- 
bot, were sometimes caught off Hanging Rocks. Blackfish (tautog) and scup, 
or scuppaug, are much esteemed. When I was last on the island, the fish- 
ermen were emptying their seines of the scup, which were so plenty as to be 
almost valueless, a string of fine fisli, ready dressed, bringing only twelve 
cents. The flesh of a tautog is very firm, and he will live a long time out of 
water. The boats iise.d here by fishermen have the mast well forward, in the 
manner known to experts along shore as the "Newport rig." Formerly they 
used " pinkeys," or Chebacco boats, so called from a famous fishing precinct 
of Essex County, Massachusetts, 

The quartz imbedded in the stone makes the roadside walls appear as if 
splashed with whitewash, I saw few ledges from Newport to Lawton's Val- 
ley. The stones brought up by the plow were all small and flat, but at the 
upper end of the island I observed they were the round masses or pebbles 
met with on the opposite main-land. There is also on the western shore a coal 
vein of inferior quality. The dust from it mingles with that of the road be- 
fore you arrive at Bristol ferry. 

I made a brief halt at the old grass-grown earth-work on the crest of the 
hill overlooking Lawton's Valley. No wayfarer should lose the rare views 
to be liad here. The fort forms a throne from wliich the Queen of Aquid- 
neck, a voluptuous rather than virgin piincess, a Cleopatra rather than an 
Elizabeth, might behold her empire. At the foot of the hill is the remark- 



TO MOUNT HOPE, AND BEYOND. 



413 



able vale intersecting the island, sprinkled with cottages among orchards; 
on the left, part of Canonicut and all of Prudence lie outstretched along the 
sunny bay; farther north the steeples of Bristol distinctly, and of Providence 
dimly, are seen; to the right Mount Hope, Tiverton, and perhaps a faint 
spectral chimney or two at Fall River. The long dark line on the water 
from the island to Tiverton is the stone bridge.' 

Turning to the southward is the battle-field of 1778, where Sullivan and 
Greene fought with Pigot and Prescott, and where Lafayette, though he had 
ridden from Boston in six hours, was not. This campaign, begun so auspi- 
ciously, terminated ingloriously. New England had been aroused to arms. 
Men of all ranks of society shouldered their firelocks and marclied. Volun- 
teers from Newburyport, a company of the first merchants of Salem, artillery 
and infantry corps from Boston, thronged the roads to Sullivan's camp. It 
was a good and salutary lesson to the Americans, not to put their faith in 
French appearances.^ 




FKOM BLTIS 8 HILL, LOOKING NUKTH. 

When Coddington and his associates determined to remove from ^Nfassa- 
chusetts, they meant to settle upon Long Island or in Delaware Bay. While 
their vessel was making the dangerous passage aiound Cape Cod without 
them, they came by land to Providence, where Mr. Williams courteously en- 
tertained and afterward influenced tliem to settle upon the Isle of Aquidneck. 
Plymouth having disclaimed jurisdiction over it, and promised to look npon 
and assist them as loving neighbors, in March, 1637-'38, the exiles organized 
their political community upon the northern end of the island. Sir H.Yane 
and Roger Williams were instrumental in procuring Rhode Island from the 
Narraganset chieftains, Miantonimo and Canonicus, By the next spring their 

^ The first bridge spanning what was known as Rowland's Ferry was completed in 1795. It 
was of wood, destroyed and swept to sea by a storm ; rebuilt, and again destroyed by worms. The 
present stone structure was built in 1809-10, and, though injured by the gale of 1815, stands firm. 

"^ The battle was fought in the valley below Quaker, sometimes called Meeting-honse, Hill. Sul- 
livan commanded in chief, though Greene is entitled to a large share of the credit of repulsing the 
British attack. It was a well-fought action. Pigot, by British accounts, had six thousand regular 
troops. Lafayette was mad as a March hare at their fighting without him. 



414 



THE NEW ENGLAND COAST, 




QUAKEK HILL FUOM BUTTS S HILL, LUOKINU SOUTH. 

numbers were so mncli augmented that some of tlie settlers removed to the 
southern or western shores. The island was divided into two townsliips — 
— Portsmouth, which now engrosses its upper half, and Newport, In 1644 
they named it the Isle of Rhodes, wdiich was merely exchanging one pagan 
name for another.' 

Mount Hope is scarcely more tlian two hundred feet high, though in its 
isolation it looks higher. It is commandingiy situated on a point of land on 
the eastern shore of Bristol Neck, giving its name to a broad expanse of wa- 
ter that receives Taunton River in its course to the sea. On the eastei'n side 
the hill is precipitous, vastly more so than Horse Neck, down which the val- 
iant Putnam urged his steed when pursued by British dragoons, Down this 
declivity Philip is said to have rolled like a cask when surprised by white 
enemies. Here, on the shores of Taunton River, is the scene of those hand-to- 
hand encounters between settler and savage in Avhich the old histoi-ians are 
Avont to mix np gunpowder with religion so pei"])lexedly. In those days the 
fall of a red chieftain on the huntinii-urounds of his fathers was hailed as a 




BATTLE GROUND OF VLbl ^^ 29, 177b 



■ Lechfoid, writing between 1637 and 1641, siiys : "At the island called Aqnedney are ahont 
two hundred families. Tiiere was a church where one Master Clark was elder : the place where 
the church was is called Newport, but that church, I hear, is now dissolved. At the other end of 
the island there is another town called Portsmouth, but no churc'i. Those of the island have a 
pretended civil government of their own erection without the king's patent." 



TO MOUNT HOPE, AND BEYOND. 



415 



special providence. Mount Hope was tlie sequel of Samoset's "Welcome 
Englislinieu." 

By the river, in the forked branches of blasted sycamores, tlie fish-hawk 
builds and broods. Their nests are made of dried eel-grass fiom the shore 
interwoven with twigs. Tlie shrill scream of the female at my coming was 
answered by the cry of the male, who lelt his fishing out on the river at the 
first signal of distress. An old traveler says this bird sometimes seems to I'e 
expanded on the watei-, he hovers so close to it. Having by some attractive 
]»ower drawn the fish within his reach, he darts snddeidy upon them. The 
cliarm he makes use of is supposed to be an oil contained in a small bag in 
the body. In defense of his mate and her young the bird seems to forget 
fear. 

After many agreeable surprises already encountered, I was unprepared 
for what I saw from the summit of Mount Hope. I felt it was good to be 
there. Every town in Ivhode Island. 
is said to be visible. All the islands 
dispersed about the bay are revealed 
at a glance. Glimmering in the dis- 
tance was Providence. On the farther 
shore of Mount Hope Bay, Fall River 
appeared niched in the sheer side of a 
granite ledge. Here were Warren and 
Bristol, there Warwick; and, far down 
the greater bay, Newport was swathed 
in a hazy cloud. I had made a long 
walk, yet felt no fiitigue, on the top of 
Mount Hope. 

Near the brow of the hill Philip fixed 
Ills wigwam and held his dusky court. 
He has had Irving for his biographer, 
Southey for his bard, and Forrest for his 
ideal representative. In his own timt* he 
was the public enemy whom any should 
slay; in ours he is considered as a mar- 
tyr to the idea of liberty — his idea of liberty not differing from that of 
Tell and Toussaint, whom we call lieroes. 

Philip did not comprehend the religion of the wliites, but as he under- 
stood their policy he naturally distrusted their fiiith. When the proi)het 
Eliot preached to him, he went up to that good man, and, pulling off a but- 
ton from his doublet, said he valued his discourse as little as the piece of 
brass — "the monster !" exclaims pious Cotton Mather. 

Such hills as Mount Hope were the settlers' sun-dials, when clocks and 
watches were luxuries known only to the wealthy few. The crest is a green 




KING PUILIP, FROM AN OLD PRINT. 



416 



THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 



nipple, having quartz cropping out everywhere; in fact, tlie basis of tlie liill 
is nearly a solitt» mass of quartz. Between the site of Philip's wigwam and 
the shore, where the escarpment is fifty feet, is a natural excavation, five or 
six feet from the ground, called "Philip's Throne." A small grass-plot is be- 
fore it, and at its foot trickles a never- failing spring of water, known as 
"Philip's Spring." 

The maimer of Philip's death, as given in Church's history, is considered 
autlientic. Church's party crossed the ferry, and reached Mount Hope about 
midnight. Detachments were placed in ambush at all the avenues of escape. 
Captain Gelding, with a number of picked men and a guide, was ordered to 
assault the stronghold by break of day. One of Philip's Indians having 
showed himself, Golding fired a volley into the camp. The Indians then 
fled to the neighboring swamp, Philip the foremost. Having gained the 
shore, he ran directly upon Church's ambuscade. An Englishman snapped 
his gun at him without eflect, when his companion, one of Church's Indian 
soldiers, sent a bullet through the heart of the chief. He fell on his face in 
the mud and water, Avith his gun under him. After the fight was over. 
Church ordered the body to be quartered and decapitated. The executioner 
Avas also an Indian, and before he struck the body made a short speech to it. 
Philip's head was taken to Plymouth in triumph, where, arriving on the very 
day the church was keeping a solemn thanksgiving, in the words of Mather, 
" God sent 'em in the head of a leviathan for a thanksgiving feast." 

I made the ascent of Mount Hope from the south, where it is gi^adual ; but 
on the west, where I descended, I found it abrupt, and covered with a grove 
of oak-trees sprinkled with stones among fern. With the exception of a few 
tumble-down stone walls that cross it, and now and then a cow quietly crop- 
ping the herbage, it is as wild as when it was the eyrie of the proud-spirited 
chieftain, " the Last of the Wampanoags." 

At Bristol the railway will set you down opposite to Fall Piver, or by 

returning to Bristol ferry you may 
take, on the Rhode Island side, the 
i-ail for Dighton and its sculptured 
rock. This rock, which has puzzled 
so many learned brains both of the 
Old World and the New, lies near 
the eastern shore of Taunton River, 
opposite Dighton wharves.' 

I wanted two things in Dighton 
— direction to the rock, and a skiff to 
cross the river to it. An ancient builder of boats, very tall and very lank, 




INSCRIPTION ON DIGHTON ROCK. 



' To be exact, the shores adjacent to tlie rock are in the town of Berkeley, formerly part of 
Dighton. 



TO MOUNT HOPE, AND BEYOND. 41 7 

having his adze in his liand and his admeasurements clialked on the toes of 
his boots, supplied me with both. 

"What on airth do you want to look at that rock for?" he expostulated 
rather than questioned. "I'd as lief look at the side of that house," pointino- 
to his work-shop. 

"You do not seem to value your archaeological remains overmuch,"! sub- 
mitted. 

"Bless you, I knew a gal born and brought up right in sight of that air 
rock, who got married and went to Baltimore to live, without ever having sot 
eyes on it. When she had staid there a spell she heard so much about Diirh- 
ton Rock, she came all the way back a purpose to see it. I^ee-ma\e curiositv, 
you see, sir." 

The river is half a mile broad at Dighton, with low, uninteresting shores. 
The " Writing Rock," a large boulder of fine-grained greenstone, is submerged 
either wholly or in part by the tidal flow, but when uncovered presents a 
smooth face, slightly inclined toward the open river. When so close as to lay 
hold of it, you are aware of faint impressions on its surface, yet these have be- 
come so nearly effaced by the action of the tides and the chafing of drift ice 
as to be fragtnentary, and therefore disappointing. As is usual, the action of 
the salt air has turned this, as other rocks by the shores, to a dusky red color. 
Seventy years ago the characters or lines traced on the rock were by actual 
measurement an inch in breadth by half an inch in depth, and distinct enough 
to attract attention from the decks of passing vessels. 

The rock is first mentioned, says Schoolcraft, in a sermon of Dr. Danforth, 
of 1680. The luver had then been frequented by white men for sixty years. 
It is next alluded to in the dedication of a sermon to Sir H. Ashurst by Cotton 
Mather, in these words : "Among the other curiosities of New England one 
is that of a mighty rock, on a perpendicular side whereof, by a river which at 
high tide covers part of it, there are very deeply engraved, no man alive 
knows how or when, about half a score lines near ten foot long and a foot 
and a half broad, filled with strange characters, which would suggest as odd 
thoughts about them that were here before us as there are odd shapes in that 
elaborate monument, whereof you shall see the fii'st line transcribed here." 

In the "Philosophical Transactions" of the Royal Society of London, cov- 
ering a period from 1700 to 1720, are several communications from Cotton 
Mather, one of which (part iv., p. 112) is as follows: 

"At Taunton, by the side of a tiding river, part in, part out of the river, 
is a large Rock; on the perpendicular side of which, next to the Stream, ai-e 
seven or eight lines, about seven or eight foot long, and about a foot wide, 
each of them ingraven with unaccountable characters, not like any known 
character."' 

' A copy of the iiiiicription, made by Professor Sewall, is deposited in the Museum at Cambridge. 

27 



418 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 

Schoolcraft believed the work to have been performed by Indians. Wasli- 
ington, who had some knowledge of their hieroglyphics, was of this opinion. 
Dr. Belknap asserts that they were acquainted with sculpture, and also in- 
stances their descriptive drawings on the bark of trees. Sculptured rocks, 
of which the origin is unknown, have been found in other locations in the 
United States. Since the unsettling of Norse traditions, the characters on 
Dighton Rock are generally admitted to be of Indian creation ; but if the 
work of white men, it Avould strengthen the theory of Verazzani's presence 
in these waters. 

Another link of the supposed discovery by Northmen Avas the skeleton 
exhumed about 1834 at Fall River. It was found in a sitting posture, having 
a plate of brass upon its breast, with arrow-heads of the same metal lying 
near, thin, flat, and of triangular shape. The arrows had been contained within 
a quiver of bark, that fell in pieces when exposed to the air. The most re- 
markable thing about the remains was a belt encircling the body, composed 
of brass tubes four and a half inches in length, the width of the belt, and placed 
close together longitudinally. The breastplate, belt, and arrow-heads were 
considered so many evidences that the skeleton was that of some Scandinavian 
who had died and been buried here by the natives. 

An antiquary would of course prize a dead Scandinavian more than many 
living ones. These mouldering bones and corroded trinkets were not, how- 
ever, the key to Digliton Rock. The mode of sepulture was that practiced 
by the natives of this continent. In Archer's account of Gosnold's voyage he 
speaks of the Indians on the south of Cape Cod as follows: 

"This day there came unto the ship's side divers canoes, the Indians ap- 
pareled as aforesaid, with tobacco and pipes steeled with copper, skins, arti- 
ficial strings, and other trifles, to barter; one had hanging about his neck a 
plate of rich copper, in length a foot, in breadth half a foot, for a breastplate." 

John Brereton, of the same voyage, tells us more of the Indians of the 
Elizabeth Islands: "They have also great store of copper, some very red, and 
some of a paler color; none of them but have chains, ear-rings, or collars of 
this metal: they had some of their arrows herewith, much like our broad 
arrow-heads, very workmanly made. Their chains are many hollow pieces 
cemented together, each piece of the bigness of one of our-reeds, a finger in 
length, ten or twelve of them together on a string, which they wear about 
their necks; their collars they wear about their bodies like bandeliers, a hand- 
ful broad, all hollow pieces like the other, but somewhat shorter, four hun- 
dred pieces in a collar, very fine and evenly set together." Were this evi- 



There is another copy, by James Winthrop ; see plate in vol. iii., "Memoir American Academy," 
and description of method of taking it, vol. ii., part ii., p. 126. Many others have been taken, 
more or less imperfect ; the best one recollected is in the liall of the Antiqnarian Society, Worcester, 
Massachusetts. 



TO MOUNT HOPE, AND BEYOND. 



419 



dence less positive, we know from Cliatnplain that the Iiulians would never 
have permitted the body of a stranger to remain buried longer tlian was 
necessary to disinter and despoil it. Verazzani's letter mentions the posses- 
sion of copper trinkets by the Indians. 

About two miles and a half from Taunton Green is the Leonard Foro-e 
the oldest in America. The spot is exceedingly picturesque. The brook, 
overhung by trees, which of yore turned the mill-wheel, glides beneath a 
rustic bridge ere it tumbles over the dam and hurries on to meet the river. 
James and Henry Leonard built the forge in 1652. 

N^ar the spot is the site of the dwelling they occupied, one of the dis- 
tinctive old struc- 
tures of its day. 
Philip lived in am- 
ity with the Leon- 
ards, who made for 
him spear and ar- 
row heads when 
he came to hunt at 
the Fowling Pond, 
not far from the 
forge, where he had 
a hunting - lodge. 
When he had re- 
solved to strike 
the English, it is 
said he gave strict 

orders not to hurt those Leonards, his good friends of the forge. Tradition 
has it that his head was afterward kept in the house some days. 

My pilgrimage among the haunts of the Narragansets and Wampanoags 
of old fame extended no farther. Setting my face again toward the sea, when 
on board one of those floating hotels that ply between Fall River and New 
York, I thought of the prediction I had cut from the Boston Daily Adver- 
tiser of just half a century ago: "We believe the time will not be far distant 
when a steamboat will be jDrovided to run regularly between New York and 
Taunton River, to come to Fall River and Dighton, and perhaps to the 
wharves in Taunton, a mile below the village. This route from New York 
to Boston would in some respects be preferable to that through Providence." 




OLD LEOIsAKD HOL Bb, KA1^UAM. 




NEW LONDON IN Islu 



CHAPTER XXVII. 

NEW LONDON AND NORWICH. 
"It seems that you take pleasure in these walks, sir." — Massinger. 

"VTEW LONDON is a city hiding within a viver, three miles from its meet- 
-'-^ ing with the waters of Long Island Sound. On the farthest seawai-d 
point of the western shore is a light-house. Before, and yet a little eastward 
of the river's mouth, is an island about nine miles long screening it from the 
full power of Atlantic storms, and forming, with Watch Hill,' the prolongation 
of the broken line of land stretching out into the Sound from the northern 
limb of the Long Island shore. Through this barrier, thrown across the en- 
trance to the Sound, all vessels must pass. The island is Fisher's Island. It 
seems placed on purpose to turn into the Thames all commerce winging its 
way eastward. Across the western extremity of Fisher's Island, on a fair 
night. New London and Montauk lights exchange burning glances. From 
Watch Hill the low and distant shore of Long Island is easily distinguished 
by day, and by night its beacon-light flashes an answer to its twin-brother 
of Montauk. These two towers are the Pillars of Hercules of the Sound, 
on which are hung the long and radiant gleams that bridge its gate-way. 
South-west of Fisher's Island are the two Gull Islets, on the smallest of 



' Watch Hill, in the town of Westerly and near Stonington, is the south-western extremity of 
Rhode Island. 



NEVv' LONDON AND NORWICH. 



421 



wliich is a light -liouse. Tlie swift tide which washes tliem is called the 
Horse-race. Next comes Plum Island, separated from the Long Island shore 
by a narrow and swift channel known as I'lum Gut, through which cunning 
yachtsmen sometimes steer. In 16G7, Samuel Wyllys, of Hartford, bou'^ht 
Plum Islap.d for a barrel of biscuit and a hundred awls and fisli-hooks. 

Any one who looks at the long ellipse of water embraced within Long 
Island and the Connecticut shore, and remarks the narrow and obstructed 
channel thi'ough which it communicates with the Hudson, the chain of islands 
at its meeting Avith the ocean on the east, must be impressed with the belief 
that he is beholding one of the greatest physical changes that have occurred 
on the New England coast. As it is, Long Island Sound lacks little of being 
an inland sea. The absence of any certain indications of the chaimels of the 
rivers emptying into the Sound west of the Connecticut fiivors the theory of 
the union, at some former time, of Long Island at its western end with the 
main-land. 

To resume our survey of the coast, we see on the map, about midway be- 
tween Point Judith and Montauk, the pear-shaped spot of land protruding 




NEAV LONDON UAKBOK, NORTH VIEW. 

above the ocean called Block Island.' It is about eight miles long, diversified 
with abrupt hills and narrow dales, but destitute of trees. A chain of ponds 
extending from the north and neaily to the centre, with several separate and 
smaller ones, constitutes about one-seventh of the island. There is no ship 
harbor, and in bad weather fishing-boats are obliged to be hauled on shore, 
though the sea -mole in process of construction by Government will afford 
both haven and safeguard against the surges of the Atlantic; for the island, 
having no rock foundation, is constantly wasting away. Cottages of wood, 
whitewashed every spring, are scattered promiscuously over the island, with 
wretched roads or lanes to accommodate every dwelling. The total disap- 
pearance of the island has often been predicted, and I recollect when the im- 



' Named from Captain Adrian Blok, a Dutch navigator. Its Indian name was Manisses. 
There are about twelve hundred inhabitants on this island, all native-born, of whom two hun- 
dred and seventy-five are voters. There are also six schools, two Ba])tist churches, and two wind- 
mills, a hotel, and several summer boarding-houses. Two hundred fishing-boats are owned by the 
islanders. In 163G John Oldham, mentioned in our ramble in Plymouth, was murdered here by 
the Pequots. Block Island in 1G72 was made a township, by the name of New Shorehani. 



422 



THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 




pvession prevailed to some extent on the main-land that 
the islanders had only an eye apiece. 

Ascending now the river toward New London, wind, 
tide, or steam shall sweep us under the granite battle- 
ments of Fort Trumbull, on the one side, and the grassy 
mounds of Fort Griswold on the other.' Near the latter 
is standing a monument commemorating the infamy of 
Benedict Arnold and the heroism of a handful of brave 
men sacrificed to what is called the chances of war. 
New London is seen straggling up the side of a steep 
and rocky hill, dominated by 
three pointed steeples. De- 
scending from the crest, its 
principal street opens like 
llie mouth of a tunnel at 
the water-side into a broad 
space, always its market- 
place and chief landing. 
Other avenues follow the 
natural shelf above the 
shore, or find their way de- 
viously as streams might down the hill-side. Tiie glory of New London is 
in its trees, though in some streets they stand so thick as to exclude the 
sun-light, and oppress the wayfarer with the feeling of walking in a church- 
yard. 

The destruction of New London by Arnold's 
command, in 1781, has left little that is suggestive 
of its beginning. Its English settlement goes no 
farther back than 1646. In that year and the next 
a band of pioneers from the Massachusetts colony, 
among whom was John Winthrop, Jun.,'' built their 
cottages, and made these wilds echo with the sounds 
of their industry. 




NEW LONDON LIGHT. 




■" The two forts, Trumbull and Griswold, are named from governors of Connecticut. They date 
from the Revolution. Fort Trumbull in its present form was completed in 184:9, under the super- 
vision of General G. W. CuUum, U. S. A. In passing through New London in April, 1770, 
General Knox, by Washington's direction, examined the harbor with the view of erecting forti- 
fications, and reported, by letter, that it would, in connection with Newport, afford a safe retreat 
to the American navy or its prizes in any wind that blew. 

° Son of Governor Winthrop, of Massachusetts. He passed his first winter on Fisher's Island, 
which remained in his family through six generations. The valuable manuscript collection known 
as the Winthrop papers was found some years ago on the island, which belongs to New York in 
consequence of the grants to the Earl of Sterling and the Duke of York. The origin of its present 



NEW LONDON AND NORWICH. 



423 




Old London and Father Thames are repeated in New England, because, 
as these honest settlers avow, they loved the old names as much as they 
disliked the barbaric 
sounds of the aborig- 
inal ones, though the 
latter were always 
typical of some salient 
characteristic. They 
settled upon the fair 
Mohegan, in the coun- 
try of the Pequots, a 
race fierce and war- ^^^ block uouse, fokt tkumbull. 

like, who in 1637 had made a death-grapple of it with the pale-faces, and had 
been blotted out from among the red nations. Pequot was the name of the 
harbor, changed in 1658 to New London. 

I first visited New London in 1845. It was then a bustling ])lace— a lit- 
tle too bustling, perhaps, when rival crews of whalemen in port joined battle 
in the market-place, unpaving the street of its oyster-shells, and shouting war- 
cries never before heard except at Otaheite or Juan Fernandez. A large 
fleet of vessels, engaged in whaling and sealing voyages, then sailed out of 
the Thames. The few old hulks laid up at the wharves, the rusty-looking 
oil-butts and discarded paraphernalia pertaining to the fishery, yet reminded 
me of the hunters who lassoed the wild coursers of sea-prairies,' 

I have already confessed to a weakness for the wharves. There is one in 
New London, appropriated to the use of the Light-house Board, on which are 
piled hollow iron cylinders, spare anchors, chain cables, spars and spindles, 
buoys and beacons. A" relief" Iight-shi|), and a tug-boat with steam up, lay 
beside it. The danger and privation of life in a light-house is not to be com- 
pared with that on board the light-ship, which is towed to its station on some 
dangerous shoal or near some reef, and thei-e anchored. It not unfrequent- 
ly happens in violent storms that the light-ship breaks from its moorings, 
and meets the fate it was intended to signal to other craft.^ The sight of a 

name is uncertain, tliongh so called as early as 1636. Governor Winthrop relates to Cotton Mather 
a singular incident which happened on Fisher's Island the previous winter. During the severe 
snow-storms hundreds of sheep, besides cattle and horses, were buried in the snow. Even the wild 
beasts came into the settlements for shelter. Twenty-eight days after the storm alluded to, the 
tenants of Fisher's Island, in extricating the bodies of a hundred sheep from one bank of snow in 
the valley, found two alive in the drift, where they had subsisted by eating the fleeces of those 
lying dead near them. 

' In 1834 New London employed thirty-six vessels in whaling and sealing. A few are still en- 
gaged in the latter fishery, in the extreme navigable waters of the Arctic and Antarctic seas. 

"^ During the unexampled cold of the past winter (1874-'7o), the light-boat otf New London 
was, in fact, carried away from her moorings by an ice-field, and many others all along the coast 
were stranded. 



424 



THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 



raging sea as high as the decks of the vessel is one familiar to these hardy 
mariners. When I expressed surprise that men were willing to hazard their 
lives on these cockle-shells, a veteran sea-dog glanced at the scanty sail his 
vessel carried as he replied, " We can get somewhere." 

On the light-ship the lanterns are protected by little houses, built around 
each mast, until lighted, when they are hoisted to the mast-head. A fog-bell 
is carried on the forecastle to be tolled in thick weather. A more funereal 
sound than its monotone, deep and heavy, vibrating across a sea shrouded in 
mist, can scarcely be imagined. 





A LIGHT-SHIP ON UEK STATION. 



Old sailors are considered to make the best keepers of either floating or 
stationary beacons. Their long habit of keeping watches on shipboard ren- 
ders them more reliable than landsmen to turn out in all kinds of weather, or 
on a sudden call. They are also far more observant of changes of the weath- 
er, of tides, or the position of passing vessels. I have found many persons in 
charge of our sea-coast lights who had been ship-masters, and were men of 
more than ordinary intelligence. When the Fresnel lenticular light was be- 
ing considered, it was objected by those having our system in charge that it 
would be difficult to procure keepers of sufficient intelligefKie to manage the 
lens apparatus. M. Fresnel replied that this difficulty had been most singu- 
larly exaggerated, as in France the country keepers belonged almost always 



NEW LONDON AND NORWICH. 



425 




COUKT-HOUSE, NEW LONDON. 



to the class of ordinary mechanics or laborers, who, with eight or ten clays' 
instruction, were able to perform their duties satisfactorily.' 

All visitors to New London find their way, sooner or later, to the Old 
Hempstead House, a venerable ^ ^ _ ^ -=. 

roof dotted with moss-tufts, situ- ~ ' ~ 

ated on Jay Street, not far west 
of the court-house. It is one of 
the few antiques which time and 
the flames have spared. As one of 
the old garrison-houses standing 
in the midst of a populous city, 
it is an eloquent reminder of the 
race it has outlived. It was built 
and occupied by Sir Robert Hemp- 
stead, descending as entailed prop- 
erty to the seventh generation, 
who continued to inhabit it. The 
Hempstead House is near the cove 
around which the first settlement of the town appears to have clustered. Tlie 
last remaining house built by the first settlers stood about half a mile Avest 
of the court-house, on what was called Cape Ann Sti'eet : it was taken down 
about 1824. Governor Winthrop lived at tlie head of the cove bearing his 
name at the north end of the city. 

The court-house standing at the head of State (formerly Court) Street 
has the date of 1784 on the pediment, having been rebuilt after tlie burning 
of the town by Arnold.^ At the other end of the street Avas the jail. The 
court-house, which formerly had an exterior galler}^, has a certain family re- 
semblance to the State-house at Newport. It is built of wood, witli some 
attempt at ornamentation. Freshened up with white paint and green blinds, 
it looked remarkably unlike a seat of justice, which is usually dirty enough 
in all its courts to be blind indeed. 

In the chancel of St. James's repose the ashes of Samuel Seabury, the first 
Anglican bishop in the United States. He took orders in 1753 in London, 
and on returning to his native country entered upon the work of his ministry. 
In 1775, having subscribed to a royalist protest, declaring liis " abliorrence of 
all unlawful congresses and committees," he was seized by the Whigs, and 
confined in New Haven jail. Later in the war, he became chaplain of Colonel 



' At the light-houses I have visited in cold weather, the unvarying complaint is made of the 
poor quality of the oil furnished by the Ligiit-house Board. One keeper told me he was obliged 
to shovel the congealed lard-oil out of the tank in the oil-room, and carry it into the dwelling, some 
rods distant, to heat it on his stove ; sometimes repeating tiie operation frequently dnring the nigiit, 
in order to keep his light burning. 

" It is shown in the view of New London iu 1813, at the iiead of this chapter. 



42G 



THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 




Faniiing's regiment of American loyalists. After the war, Mr. Seabury went 
to England in order to obtain consecration as bishop, but, meeting with ob- 
stacles there, he was conse- 
crated in Scotland by three 
non - juring bishops. The 
monument reproduced is 
from the old burying-ground 
of New London.' 

The ancient burial-place 
of New London is in the 
BISHOP sEABURY's MONUMENT. northcm part of the city, on 

elevated ground, not far from the river. An old fractured slab of red sand- 
stone once bore the now illegible inscription : 

"An epitaph on Captaine Richard Lord, deceased May 17, 1662, Aetatis svas 51. 

" Bright starre of ovr chivallrie lies here 

To the state a covnsellorr fvll deare 
And to ye trvth a friend of sweete content 
To Hartford towne a silver ornament 
Who can deny to poore he was releife 
And in composing paroxyies he was cheife 
To Marchantes as a patterne he might stand 
Adventring dangers new by sea and land." 

The harbor of New London being considered one of the best in New En- 
gland, its claim to be a naval station has been urged from time to time upon 
the General Government. It is spacious, safe, and deep. During the past 
winter, which has so severely tested the capabilities of our coast harbors, 
closing many of them with an ice-blockade of long continuance, that of New 
London has remained open. In 1835, when the navigation of the harbor of 
New York was suspended, by being solidly frozen. New London harbor re- 
remained unobstructed, vessels entering and departing as in summer.^ 

Among other observations made among the shipping, I may mention the 
operations of the destructive worm that perforates a ship's bottom or a thick 



' Bishop Seabury was born in 1728, and died in 1796, aged 68. In person he was large, ro- 
bust, and vigorous ; dignified and commanding in appearance, and loved by his parishioners of low 
estate. After consecration he discharged the fimctions of bishop of the diocese of Connecticut and 
Rhode Island. 

^ The months of January and February, 1875, will be long remembered in New England for the 
intense and long-continued cold weather. Long Island Sound was a vast ice-field, which sealed u\> 
its harbors. For a time navigation was entirely suspended, the boats usually plying between New- 
port, Stonington, New London, and New York being obliged to discontinue their voyages. Gar- 
diner's Bay was completely closed. The shore of Long Island, on its ocean side, was strewed with 
great blocks of ice. An unusual number of disasters signalized the ice embargo throughout the 
whole extent of the New England coast. 



NEW LONDON AND NORWICH. 



42; 








stick of timber with equal ease. I now had an opportunity of coniirminn- 
wliat I liad often been told, yet scarcely credited, tliat the worm could be 
distinctly heard while boriiiy^. The sound made by the borer exactly resem- 
bled that of an auger. It is not a little surprising to reflect that so in- 
significant a worm — not longer than 
a cambric needle when it first attacks 
the wood — is able to penetrate solid 
oak. I noticed evidences where these 
dreaded workmen were still busy, in 
little dust-heaps lying on the timber 
not yet removed from a vessel. 

With the aid of a wheezy ferry- 
boat that landed me on Groton side, 
I still pursued my questionings or 
communings under the inspiration of 
a sunny afternoon, a transparent aii-, 
and a breeze brisk and bracing, bring- 
ing with it the full flavor of^lie sea. «^°'^<^^ monumext. 
A climb up the steep ascent leading to the old fort was rewarded by tlic 
most captivating views, and by gales that are above blowing in the su])er- 
heated streets of a city. 

The granite monument, which is our guide to the events these heights 
liave witnessed, was built with the aid of a lottery. A marble tablet placed 
above its entrance is inscribed : 

This Monument 

was erected under the patronage of the State of Connecticut, A.n. 1830, 

and in the 55th year of the Independence of the U. S. A., 

In Memory of the Brave Patriots 

who fell in the massacre of Fort Griswold, near this spot, 

on the 6th of September, A.D. 1781, 

When the British, under the command of the Traitor, 

BENEDICT ARNOLD, 

burnt the towns of New London and Groton, and spread 

desolation and woe throughout this region. 

I 
Westminster Abbey could not blot out that arraignment. Dr. Johnson 
did not know Benedict Arnold when he said, "Patriotism is the last refuge 
of a scoundrel." An American school -boy, if asked to name the greatest 
villain the world has produced, Avould unhesitatingly reply, "The traitor, 
Benedict Arnold." The sentence which history has passed upon him is 
eternal. Some voice is always repeating it. 

Shortly after the peace of '83 Arnold was presented at court. While the 
king was conversing with him. Earl Balcarras, who had fought with Bur- 
goyne in America, was announced. The king introduced them. 



428 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 

" What, sire," exclaimed the haugl)ty old earl, refusing his hand, " the trai- 
tor Arnold !" 

The consequence was a challenge from Arnold. Tlie parties met, and it 
was arranged tliey should fire together. Arnold fired at the signal, but the 
ear], flinging down his pistol, turned on his heel, and was walking away, 
when his adversary called out, 

"Why don't you fire, my lord?" 

"Sir," said the earl, looking over his shoulder, "I leave you to the execu- 
tioner." 

The British attack on New London was not a blind stroke of premeditated 
cruelty, but a part of the only real grand strategy developed since the cam- 
paign of Trenton. Sir Henry Clinton had been completely deceived by 
Washington's movement upon Yorktown, and now launched his expedition 
upon Connecticut, with the hope of arresting his greater adversary's prog- 
ress. Arnold was the suitable instrument for such work. 

The expedition of 1*781 landed on both sides of the harbor, one detach- 
ment under command of the traitor himself, near the light-house, the other at 
Groton Point. Fort Trumbull, being untenable, was evacuated, its little gar- 
rison crossing the river to Fort Griswold. Encountering nothing on his march 
except a desultory fire from scattered parties, Arnold entered New London, 
and proceeded to burn the shipping and warehouses near the river. In his 
official dispatch he disavows the general destruction of the town Avhich en- 
sued, but the testimony is conclusive that dwellings were fired and plundered 
in every direction by his troops, and under his eye.' 

The force that landed upon Groton side was led by Lieutenant-colonel 
Eyre against Fort Griswold, which then contained one hundred and fifty men, 
under Lieutenant-colonel William Ledyard, cousin of the celebrated traveler. 
The surrender of the fort being demanded and refused, the British assaulted 
it on three sides. They were resisted with determined courage, but at length 
effected an entrance into the work. Eyre had been wounded, and his suc- 
cessor, Montgomery, killed in the assault. Finding liimself overpowered, Led- 
yard advanced and offered his sword to Major Bromfield, now in command 
of the enemy, who asked, " Who commands this fort ?" 

" I did," courteously replied Ledyard ; " but you do now." 

Bromfield immediately stabbed Ledyard '\\ith his own sword, and the 
hero fell dead at the feet of the coward and assassin.^ This revolting deed 

^ In all, the British destroyed one hundred and forty-three buildings, sixty-five of which were 
dwellings, and including the court-house, jail, and church. 

^ In the Wadsworth Museum, Hartford, the vest and shirt worn by Ledyard on the day of 
his death, are still shown to the visitor. Lafayette, when attacking the British redoubt at York- 
town, ordered his men. it is said with Washington's consent, to " remember New London." The 
continental soldiers could not or would not execute the command on prisoners who begged their 
lives on their knees. 



NEW LONDON AND NORWICH. 



429 



AVfls reserved for a Tory officer, of whom Arnold officially writes Sir H. Clin- 
ton, his " behavior on this occasion does him great honor." The survivors of 
the garrison were nearly all put to the sword, and even the wounded treated 
with incredible cruelty.' 

Fort Griswold is a parallelogram, having a foundation of rough stone, on 
which very thick and solid embankments 
have been raised. It is the best preserved 
of any of the old earth- works I have seen 
since Fort George, at Castine. The position 
is naturally very strong, far stronger than 
Bunker Hill, which cost so many lives to 
carry. On all sides except the east the hill 
is precipitous; here the ascent is gradual, 
and having surmounted it, an attacking force 
would find itself on an almost level area of 
sufficient extent to form two thousand men. 
In consequence of the knowledge that this 
was their weak point of defense, the Ameri- 
cans constructed a small redoubt, the I'e- 
mains of which may still be seen about three 
liundred yards distant from the main work, 

Groton was the seat of the Pequot power, the royal residence ofSassacus 
being situated on a commanding eminence called Fort Hill, four miles east 
of New London. This was his principal fortress, though there Avas another 
about eight miles distant from New London, near Mystic, which was the scene 
of the memorable encounter which all our historians from Cotton Mather to 
Dr. Palfrey have related with such minuteness. The conquest of the Pequots, 
with whom, man against man, no other of the red nations near their frontiers 
dared to contend, was heroic in the little band of Englishmen by whom it was 
effected. The reduction to a handful of outcasts of a nation that counted a 
thousand warriors Avas a stroke of fortune the English owed to the assistance 
of L^ncas, a rebel against his lawful chieftain, Sassacus, and of Miantonimo, 
whose alliance had been secured by Roger Williams.'^ 

Captain John INfason, who had served under Fairfox in the Netherlands, is 




BENEDICT ARXOLD. 



' Soon after the surrender a wagon loaded with wounded Americans was set in motion down 
the hill. In its descent it struck with great force against a tree, causing the instant death of sev- 
eral of its occupants. — "Gordon's Revolution," vol. iv., p. 179. 

^ Captain Mason, with the Connecticut and Massachusetts forces, numbering in all only- 
ninety men, together with about four hundred Narragansets and Mohegans, attacked the Pequot 
fortress on the morning of May 26th, 1037. His Indian allies skulked in the rear. Mason's onset 
was a complete surprise; but he would not have succeeded had he not tired the fort, which created 
a panic among the enemy, and rendered them an easy \n-ey to the English and friendly Iiulians 
surrounding it. Between six and seven hundred Pecpiots perished. 



430 



THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 



the ideal Puritan soldier. Before leading his men on to storm the Pequot 
stronghold, they knelt together in the moonlight, which shone brightly on that 
May morning, and commended themselves and their enterprise to God. Re- 
port says that the accompanying Narragansets and Mohegans were much as- 
tounded and troubled at the sight. Satisfied that he could not conquer the 
Pequots hand to hand with his little force, Mason himself applied a fire-brand 
to the wigwams. His own account of the Pequot war, reprinted by Prince 
in nSGjis the best and fullest narrative of its varying fortunes. 




STORMINU OF THE INDIAN FORTRESS. 



Mason relates that he had but one pint of strong liquors in his army dur- 
ing its whole march. Like a prudent commander, he carried the bottle in his 
hand, and ingenuously says, when it was empty the very smelling of it would 
presently recover such as had fainted away from the extremity of the heat. 
Among the special providences of the day he mentions that Lieutenant Bull 
had an arrow shot into a hard piece of cheese he carried, that probably saved 
his life; " which may verify the old saying," adds the narrator, that "a little 
armor would serve, if a man knew where to place it."* Fuller, in one o^ his 
sermons, has another and a similar proverb: "It is better to fight naked than 
with bad armor, for the rags of a bad corselet make a deeper wound, and 
worse to be healed, than the bullet itself" Mason ultimately settled in Nor- 
wich, and died there. 



' The English in these early wars fought in armor, that is to say, a steel cap and corselet, with 
a back and breast piece, ovei- butf coats, the common equipment everywhere of that day for a horse 
or foot soldier. 



NEW LONDON AND NORWICH. 



431 




SILAS DEANE. 



Silas Deane was a native of Groton. Of the tlivee men to wlioni Congress 
intrusted its secret negotiations with European 
powers, Franklin was the only one whose char- 
acter did not permanently suffer, although he 
did not escape the malignity and envy of Ar- 
thur Lee. The Virginian's enmity and jeal- 
ousy, aided by the influence of his brotliers, 
were more successful in sullying the name and 
fame of Silas Deane. Yet Arthur Lee was a 
])atriot and an honest man, whose public life 
was corroded by a morbid envy and distrust 
of his associates. A more disastrous appoint- 
ment than his could hardly have been made, 
as his temperament especially unfitted him for 
a near approach to men who, with all the world's polish, were, in dii^lomatic 
phrase, able to cut an adversary's throat with a hair. 

John Quincy Adams, who may perhaps have inherited his father's dislike 
of Deane, once said, in the course of a conversation with some friends: 

"A son of Silas Deane was one of my school-fellows.* I never saw him 
again until last autumn, when I recognized him on board a steamboat, and in- 
troduced him to Lafayette, who said, 'Do you and Deane agree?' I said, 
' Yes.' 'That's more than your fathers did before you,' replied the general. 

" Silas Deane," continued Mr. Adams, " was a man of fine talents, but, like 
General Arnold, he was not true to his country. After he was dismissed 
from the service of the United States he went to England, lived for a long 
time on Lord Shefl^eld's patronage, and wrote a book which did more to 
widen the breach between England and America, and produce unpleasant 
feelings between the two countries, than any work that had been pub- 
lished. Finally he determined to return to America, but, in a fit of remorse 
and despair, committed suicide before the vessel left the Thames. His char- 
acter and fate affected those of his son, who has lived in obscurity."^ 

It is possible that Silas Deane's patriotism was not proof against the ingrat- 
itude he had experienced, and that he became soured and disaffected; but it 
is scarcely just to his memory to call him traitor, or compare him with such 
an ignoble character as Arnold. Deane was the friend of Beaumarchais; he 
was also his confidant. He Avas the means of securing the services of Lafay- 
ette for America. There is little doubt that lie exceeded liis powers as com- 
missioner, involving Congress in embarrassments, of which his recall was the 
solution. The malevolence of Lee and the crookedness of French diplomacy 



' Mr, John Quincy Adams accompanied his father to France, and was placed at school near 
Paris. 

• Miss E. S. Quincy's " Memoir." 



432 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 

did what was wanting to consign liini to obscurity and poverty. Tlie con- 
troversy over Deane's case produced a pamphlet from Thomas Paine, and 
caused John Jay to take the place resigned by Mr. Laurens as president of 
Congress. Deane and Beaumarchais were the scape-goats of the French alli- 
ance.' 

John Ledyard was another monument of Groton. His first essay as a 
traveler exhibits his courage and resoui-ce. He entered Dartmouth as a divin- 
ity student; but poverty obliging him to withdraw from the college, and not 
having a shilling in his pocket, he made a canoe fifty feet long, with which he 
floated down the river one hundred and forty miles to Hartford. He then em- 
barked for England as a common sailor, and while there, under the impulse 
of his passion for travel, enlisted with Captain Cook as a corporal of marines. 
He witnessed the tragical death of his captain. In 1771, after eight years' 
absence, Ledyard revisited his native country. His mother was then keep- 
ing a boarding-house at Southhold. Her son took lodgings with her without 
being recognized, as had once happened to Franklin in similar circumstances. 

Ledyard's subsequent exploits in Europe, Asia, and Africa bear the im- 
press of a daring and adventurous spirit. At last he offered himself for the 
more perilous enterprise of penetrating into the unknown regions of Central 
Africa. A letter from Sir Joseph Banks introduced him to the projectors of 
the expedition. " Before I had learned," says the gentleman to whom Sir 
Joseph's letter was addressed, "the name and business of my visitor, I was 
struck with the manliness of his person, the breadth of his chest, the open- 
ness of his countenance, and the inquietude of his eye. Spreading the map 
of Africa before him, and tracing a liiie from Cairo to Sennaai", and thence 
westward in the latitude and supposed direction of the Niger, I told him that 
was the route by which I was anxious that Africa might, if possible, be ex- 
plored. He said he should consider himself singularly fortunate to be in- 
trusted with the adventure. I asked hira when he would set out. His an- 
swer was, 'To-morrow morning.'"^ 

New London's annals afford a jDassing glimpse of two men who, though 
enemies, were worthy of each other. During the war with England of 1812, 
Decatur, with the United States, llacedonicm, and Hornet, was blockaded in 
New London by Sir T. M. Hardy with a squadi-on of superior fin-ce. The 
presence of the British fleet was a constant menace to the inhabitants, dis- 
quieted as they also were by the recollections of Arnold's descent. In vain 
Decatur tried to escape the iron grip of his adversary. Hardy's vigilance 



^ In 1835, when President Jackson demanded twenty-five millions of France on account of 
French spoliations, the claim of Beaumarchais was allowed, after deducting a million livres which 
had heen advanced by Vergennes. Deane's heirs did not obtain an adjustment of his claims by 
Congress until 1842. 

* Ledyard proceeded no farther than Cairo, where he died, in i788, of a bilious fever. 



KEW LONDON AND NORWICH. 



433 



never relaxed, and the American vessels remained as uselessly idle to the end 
of the war, as if laid up in ordinary. Once Decatur had prepared to slip 
away unperceived to sea, but signals 
made to the hostile fleet from the shore 
compelled him to abandon the attempt. 
He then proposed to Hardy a duel be- 
tween his own and an equal force of 
British ships, which, though he did not 
absolutely decline the challenge,^ it is. 
pretty evident Sir Thomas never meant 
should happen. 

Decatur was brave, fearless, and 
chivalric. He was the handsomest ofli- 
cer in the navy. Coleridge, who knew 
hinj well at Malta, always spoke of him 
in the highest terras. Our history does 
not afford a more impressive example 
of a useful life uselessly thrown away. 
Of his duel with Barron the following 
is probably a correct account of the 
closing scene : The combatants ap- 
proached- within sixteen feet of each other, because one was near-sighted, and 
the rule was that both should take deliberate aim before the word was given. 
They both fired, and fell Avith their heads not ten feet apart. Each believed 
himself mortally hurt. Before their removal from the ground tliey were rec- 
onciled, and blessed each other, declaring there was nothing between them. 
All that was necessary to have prevented the meeting was a j^ersonal expla- 
nation. 

Sir T. Hardy is well known as the captain of Nelson's famous flag-ship, the 
Victory, and as having received these last utterances of the dying hero: "An- 
chor, Hardy, anchor !" When the captain replied, " I suppose, my lord, Ad- 
miral Collingwood will now take upon himself the direction of afixiirs ?" " Not 
while I live, I hope, Hardy !" cried the dying chief, endeavormg ineffectually 
to raise himself from the bed. " No," he added, " do 7/o^c anchor, Hardy." 
" Shall we make the signal, sir?" " Yes," replied his lordship, "for if I live, 
I'll anchor. Take care of my dear Lady Hamilton, Hardy ; take care of poor 
Lady Hamilton, Kiss me, Hardy."^ 




STEPHEN DECATUR. 



' Decatur offered to match the United States and Macedonian with the Endymion and Statira. 
Sir Thomas declined the proposal as made, hut consented to a meeting between the Statira and 
Macedonian alone. 

^ Nelson commended almost with his latest breath Lady Hamilton and his daughter as a legacy 
to his country. Lady Hamilton, however, died in exile, sickness, and actual want at Calais, 
France, in 1815. 

28 



434 



THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 



With whatevev local preferences the traveler may have come, he will think 
the approach to Xorwich charming. Through banks high and green, crested 
Avith groves, or decked with white villages, the river slips quietly away to min- 
gle in the noisy world of waters beyond. In deeper shadows of the hills the 
pictures along the banks are i-eproduced with marvelous fidelity of form and 
coloring; and even the blue of the sky and white drifting clouds are mirrored 
there. All terrestrial things, however, appear, as in the camera, inverted — 
roofs or steeples pointing downward, men or animals walking with feet up- 
ward, along the banks, like flies on a ceiling. When autumn tints are on, the 
effects seen in the water are heightened by the confused masses of sumptuous 
foliao-e huns; like garlands alonsr the shores. 




liUSTIC BRIDGE, NOKVVIUU. 

Norwich is ranged about a hill overlooking the Thames. It is on a point 
of rock-land infolded by two streams, the Yantic and Shetucket, that come 
tumbling and hurrying down from the higher northern ranges to meet and 
kiss each other in the Thames. Rising, ton ;ico above terrace, the appearance 
of Norwich, as viewed from the river, is more .svrikaig in its ensemble than by 
reason of particular features. The water-side is the familiar dull red, above 
Avhich glancing roofs and steeples among trees are seen retreating up the as- 
cent. By night a ridged and chimneyed blackness bestrewed with lights re- 
wards the curious gazer from tlie deck of a Sound steamboat. I admired in 
Norwich the broad avenues, the w^ealth of old trees, the luxurious spaciousness 
of the private grounds. Washington Street is one of the finest I have walked 
in. There is breathing-room everywhere, town and country seeming to meet 



KEW LONDON AND NORWICH. 



435 




*«s*^K 



and clasp hands, each giving to the other of the best it had to offer, I do not 
mean that Xorwicli is countrified ; but its mid-city is so easily escaped as to 
do away with the feeling of imprisonment in a widerness of brick, stone, and 
plate-glass. The suburban homes of Norwich have an air of substantial com- 
fort and delicious seclusion. In brief, wherever tme has made up his mind to 
be buried, he would like to live in Norwich. 

There are not a few picturesque objects about Norwich, especially by the 

shores of the Yantic, 

which, since being- 
robbed of the falls, 
once its pride and 
glory, has become a 
prosaic mill-stream.' 
The water is of tin 
blackness of Acheron 
streaked with amber 
where it falls over 
rocks, and of a rusty 
brown in shallows, as 
if partaking of the col- 
or of bits of decayed S 
wood or dead leaves which one sees at 
the bottom. The stream, after having 
been vexed by dams and tossed about 
by mill-wheels, bounds joyously, and 
witli some touch of savage freedom, to 
strike hands with the Shetucket. 

The practical reader should be told 
that the city of Norwich is the outgrowth and -w^as of yore the landing of 
Norwich town, two miles above it. The city was then known as Chelsea and 
Norwich Landing. The Mohegans were lawful owners of the soil. Subse- 
quent to the Pequot war hostilities broke out between Uncas, chief of the 
Moliegans, and Miantonimo, the Narraganset sachem. The Narragansets in- 
vaded the territory of the Mohegans, and a battle occurred on the Great 
Plains, near Greenville, a mile and a half below Norwich, The Narragansets 
suffered defeat, and their chief became a prisoner. He was delivered by Un- 
cas to the English, who condemned him to death, and devolved upon Uncas 
the execution of the sentence. The captive chief was led to the spot where 






OLD MILL, NOKVVICH. 



' The falls were very beautiful, and have been celebrated by Trunibuirs pencil and I\[rs. Sigour- 
ney's verse. Tliere still remain some curious cavities, worn in tlie rock by the prolonged rotary 
motion of loose stones. Lydia Huntley Sigourney, the most celebrated writer in prose or poetry 
of her day in New England, was a native of Norwich, 



436 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 

he had been made prisoner, and, while stalking with Indian stoicism in the 
midst of his enemies, was killed by one blow from a tomahawk at the signal 
of Uncas. Miantonimo was buried where he fell, and from him the spot takes 
its name of Sachem's Plain/ 

War continued between the Narragansets and JMohegans, the former, led 
by a brother of Miantonimo, being again the assailants. Uncas was at length 
compelled to throw himself within his strong fortress, where he was closely 
besieged, and in danger of being overpowered. He found means to send in- 
telligence to Saybrook, where Captain Mason commanded, that his supply of 
food was exhausted. Mason immediately sent Thomas Leffingwell with a 
boat-load of provision, which enabled Uncas to hold out until his enemy with- 
unkos, drew. For this act, which he performed single-handed, Lef- 

r~(^/^ iingwell received from Uncas the greater part of Norwich ; 
V^ and in 1659, by a formal deed, signed by Uncas and his two 

his mark sons, Owaneko and Attawanhood, he, with Mason, Rev. James 

OwANEKo, Fitch, and others, became proj^rietors of the whole of Nor- 
C^^^^y^ wich.^ 

TV I did not omit a visit to the ground where the "buried 

IS maik. majesty" of Mohegan is lying. It is on the bank of the Yan- 

-^^I tic, in a secluded though populous neighborhood. A granite 

^~>rW"Tf^^ obelisk, with the name of Uncas in relief at its base, erected 
his mark. by citizens of Norwich, stands within the inclosure. The 

cITan^his™" foundation was laid by President Jackson in 1833. Around 
are clustered a few mossy stones chiseled by English hands, 
with the brief record of the hereditary chieftains of a once powerful race.^ In 
its native state the spot must have been singularly romantic and well chosen. 
A wooded height overhangs the river in full view of the falls, where their tur- 
bulence subsides into a placid onward flow, and where the chiefs, ere their de- 

' Before the battle with the Narragansets, Uncas is said to have challenged Miantonimo to single 
combat, promising for himself and his nation to abide the result. Miantonimo refused. This chief, 
in his flight from the field, was overtaken by Mohegan warriors, who impeded him until Uncas 
could come up. When Uncas laid his hand on Miantonimo's shoulder, the latter sat down in token 
of submission, maintaining a sullen silence. Uncas is said to have eaten a piece of his flesh. 

^ The proprietors numbered thirty-five. Uncas received about seventy pounds for nine square 
miles. The settlement of Norwich is considered to have begun in 1000, when Kev. James Fitch 
removed from Saybrook to Norwich (town). 

' The following inscriptions are from the royal burial-ground of tlie IMohegans : 

" Here lies y^ body of Pompi Uncas, son of Benjamin and Ann Uncas, and of y^ royal blood, 
who died May y« first, 1740, in y^ 21st year of his age." 

"Here lies Sam Uncas, the 2d and beloved son of his father, Jolin Uncas, who was the grand- 
son of Uncas, grand sachem of Mohegan, the darling of his mother, being daughter of said Uncas, 
grand sachem. He died July 31st, 1 741, in the 28th year of his age." 

"In memory of Elizabeth Joquib, the daughter of Mahomet, great-grandchild to y^ first Un- 
cas, great sachem of Mohegan, who died July y<= 5th, 1750, aged 33 years." 



NEW LONDON AND NORWICH. 



437 




UNCAS S MONUMENT. 



pavture for the happy hunting-grounds, might look their last on the villages 
of their people. It was tlie Indian custom to bury- 
by the margin of river, lake, or ocean. Here, doubt- 
less, repose the bones of many grim warriors, seated 
in royal state, with their weaj^ons and a pot of suc- 
cotash beside them. The last interment here was 
of Ezekiel Mazeon, a descendant of Uncas, in 1826. 
The feeble remnant of the Mohegans followed him 
to the grave.' 

Mr. Sparks remarks that the history of the In- 
dians, like that of the Carthaginians, has been writ- 
ten by their enemies. As the faithful, unwavering j^^^"* 
ally of the English, Uncas has received the enco- 
miums of their historians. His statesmanship has 
been justified by time and history. By alliance 
with the English he preserved his people for many 
generations after the more numerous and powerful Pequots, Narragansets, 
and Wampanoags had ceased to exist. In 1638 he came with his present 
of wampum to Boston, and having convinced the English of his loyalty, thus 
addressed them : "This heart" (laying his hand upon his breast) "is not mine, 
_^^^-^_ but yours. Command me any difficult 

service, and I will do it. I have no men, 
but they are all yours. I will never be- 
lieve any Indian against the English 
any more." It is this invincible fidel- 
ity, approved by important services, 
that should make his name and char- 
acter respected by every descendant 
of the fathers of New England. 

About midway of the pleasant ave- 
nue that unites old Xorwich with new 
is the birthplace of Benedict Arnold.* 




ARNOLD'S BIRTHPLACE. 



' The hereditary chieftainsliip was extinct as long ago as the beginTiing of the century. The 
Mohegans occupied a strip of laud containing two thousand seven hundred acres, lying on the 
Thames between Norwich and New London, above the mouth of Stony Brook, and between the 
river and ]\rontville. In 1033 the Indian population of Connecticut was computed at eight persons 
to the square mile ; the earliest enumeration of the Mohegans made their number one thousand 
six hundred and sixty-three souls ; in 1797 only four hundred remained. By 1825 the nation was 
reduced to a score or two, a portion having emigrated to Stockbridge, Massachusetts. Tiie Mohe- 
gan reserve was divided in 1790 among the remaining families of the nation. The Mohegans 
were probably a distinct nation, though Uncas was a vassal of the Pequots. 

" On the Colchester road, or Town Street, near the junction of a street leading toward the 
Falls. The estate is now locally known as the Ripley Tlace. 



438 



THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 




Somewhat farther on, and -wlieii within lialf a mile of the town, you also see 
at the right the homely little building which was the apothecary's in which 
1^- - - .1 Arnold worked as a boy 

with pestle and mortar 
to the accejDtance of his 
master, Dr. Lathrop, who 
lived in the adjoining 
mansion. One can bet- 
ter imagine Arnold deal- 
ing out musket -bullets 
- I than pills, and mixing 
brimstone with saltpetre 
rather than harmless 
i!i^^ drugs. As a boy he was 
bold, high-spirited, and 
cruel. 

In this neigliborhood 
I saw a groujj of elms 
unmatched for beauty in 
New England. One of 
them is a king among 
trees. The}^ are on a 
grassy slope, before an 
inviting mansion, and are in the full glory of maturity. It was a feast to 
stand under their bi'anching arms, and be fanned and soothed by the play of 
the breeze among their gi-een tresses, that fell in fountains of rustling foliage 
from their crowned heads. A benison on those old trees ! May they never 
fall into the clutches of that class who have a real and active hatred of every 
thing beautiful, or that appeals to 
more than their habitual perception 
is able to discover ! 

I made a brief visit at tlie man- 
sion built by General Jedediah Hun- 
tington before he removed to New 
London after the Old War.' 

In the dining-room was a full- 
length of General Eben Huntington, 
painted by Trumbull at the age of 
eighteen. On seeing it some years 
afterward, Trumbull took out his genekal huntington's house. 



ELM-TKEES BY THE WAVSIUE. 




^ The general was appointed collector of New London by Washington. His first wife was a 
daughter of Governor Trumbull. 



NEW LONDON AND NORWICH. 



439 



penknife and said to his host and friend, "Eb, let me put my knife through 
this." Another portrait by the same hand, representing the general at the 
siege of Yorktown, is in a far different manner. The tliree daughters of Gen- 
eral Huntington, then living in the old family mansion, in referring to the 
warm friendship between their father and the painter, mentioned that the 
first and last portraits painted by Colonel Trumbull were of members of their 
family. 

Xear General Huntington's, where many of the choicest spirits of the 
Revolution have been en- 
tertained, is the handsome 
mansion of Governor Hun- 
tington, a remote connec- 
tion of his military neigh- 
bor. Without the advan- 
tages of a liberal educa- 
tion, he became a member 
of the old Congress, and 
its president, chief -justice, 
and governor of Connecti- 
cut. President Dwight, 
who knew him well, extols 
his character and abilities 
warmly and highly. 

I had frequent oppor- 
tunities of seeing, in my rambles about the environs of New London and 
Norwich, the beautiful dwarf flowering laurel {Kalmia august i folia) that is 
almost unknown farther north. In the woods, where it was growing in wild 
luxuriance, it appeared like a gigantic azelia, ablaze with fragrant bloom of 
white and pink. It used to be said that honey collected by the bee from this 
flower jvas poisonous. The broad-leaved laurel, or calico-tree {Kahnia lati- 
folia) was believed to be even more injurious, instances being mentioned 
where death had occurred from eating the flesh of pheasants that had fed on 
its leaves. 

' Norwich town represents the kernel from which the city has sprung, and 
retains also no little of the savor incident to a population that has held in- 
novations at arms-length. It has quiet, freshness, and a certain rural comeli- 
ness. A broad green, or common, planted with trees, is skirted by houses, 
many of them a century or more old, among which I thought I now and then 
detected the no longer familiar well-sweep, with the "old oaken bucket" 
standing by the curb. On one side of the common the old court-house is 
still seen. 

Take the path beside the meeting-house, ascending the overlianging rocks 
by some natural steps, and you will be richly repaid for the trifling exertion. 




MANSION OF GOVEKNOK HUNTINGTON. 



440 



THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 



The view embraces a charming little valley Avatered by the Yaiitic, which 
here flows through rich meadow-lands and productive farms. Encompassing 

the settlement is another elevated 
range of the rocky hills common to 
this region, making a sort of amphi- 
theatre in which the town is natural- 
ly placed. 

The old church of Norwich town 
formerly stood in the hollow between 
two high hills above its present site. 
Tlie pound, now its next neighbor, is 
still a lawful inclosure in most of tiie 
New England States. Not many 
years ago, I knew of a town in Mas- 
sachusetts that was presented by a 
grand jury for not having one. I 
visited the old grave-yard, remarka- 
ble for its near return to a state of 
nature. Many stones had fallen, and 
sometimes two were kept upright by 
leaning one against the other. Weeds, 
brambles, and vines impeded my foot- 
steps or concealed the grave-stones. 
I must often repeat the story of the 
shameful neglect which involves most 
of our older cemeteries. One is not 
quite sure, in leaving them, that he does not carry away on his feet the dust 
of former generations. Some of the stones are the most curious in form and 
design I have met with. The family tombs of Governor and General Ilun- 
tinscton are here. 




CONGUEGATIONAL CHURCH. 




I" 




PETER STUYVESANT. 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 

SAYBROOK. 

" Says Tweed to Till, 

'What gars ye rin sae still?' 

Says Till to Tweed, 

' Tlioiigli ye rin wi' speed, 

An' I rin slaw, 
Tor ae man that ye droon, 

I droon twa.' " — Old Song. 

RATHER more than a hundred miles from New Yoi-k the railway crosses 
the Connecticut River, on one of those bridges that at a little distance 
resemble spiders' webs hung between the shores. From here one may look 
down quite to the river's mouth, where it enters the Sound ; and if it be a 
warm summer's day, the bluish -gray streak of land across it may be seen. 
The Connecticut is the oidy river of importance emptying upon the New En- 
Ofland coast that has not an island lodo-ed in its throat. 



442 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 

It was on one of those pavclied days of niidsuminer, when tlie very ah- is 
qni\ ering, and every green thing droops and slirivels under a vertical sun, 
that I lirst alighted at the station at Saybrook. The listless, fagged, and 
jaded air of city swells lounging about the platform, the flushed faces of 
blooming girls and watchful dowagers, betokened the general prostration of 
weary humanity, who yearned for the musical plash of sea-waves as the with- 
ering leaves and dusty grass longed for rain. 

How feminine New England exaggerates, to be sure ! A group of three 
young ladies exchange their views upon the sultriness of the day : one ob- 
serves, " What a dreadful hot day!" a second declares it "horrid" (torrid, 
perhaps she meant to say) ; and the last pronounces it " perfectly frightful," 
emphasizing the opinion by opening her umbrella with a sharp snap. What 
they would have said to an earthquake, a conflagration, or a shipwreck, is 
left to bewildering conjecture. 

In a certain unquiet portion of the American Union, the term Connecticut 
Yankee is expressive of concentrated dislike for shrewd bargaining, a nasal 
twang of speech, aad a supposed desire to overreach one's neighbor. How 
often have I heard in the South the expression, "A mean Yankee ;" as if, for- 
sooth, meanness were sectional ! Here in New England a Connecticut Yankee 
is spoken of as a cunning blade or sharp fellow ; as an Englishman would say, 
" Pie's Yorkshire ;" or an Italian, " E Spoletino." 

The day of wooden nutmegs is past and gone, and Connecticut is more 
familiarly known as the "Land of Steady Habits." The w'hole State is a hive. 
Every smoky town you see is a busy work-shop. The problem of the Con- 
necticut man is how to do the most work in the shortest time, whether by 
means of a sewing-machine, a Colt, or a mitrailleuse. If I should object to 
any thing in him, it would be the hurry and worry, the drive, which impels 
liini through life — and in this I do not imagine he differs from the average 
American man of business — until, like one of his own engines that is always 
worked under a full pressure of steam, he stops running at last. That is why 
we see so many old men of thirty, and so many jjremature gray liairs in New 
England. 

But what I chiefly lament is the disappearance of the Yankee — not the 
conventional Yankee of the theatre, for he had never an existence elsewhere; 
but the hearty yet suspicious, "cute" though green, drawling, whittling, un- 
adulterated Yankee, with his broad humor, delicious 2>(iiois, and large-hearted 
patriotism. His very mother-tongue is forgotten. Not once during these 
rambles have I heard his old familiar "I swaow*," or "Git aout," or "Dew 
tell.'" Railway and telegraph, tactory and Avoi-k-slu>]i, penetrating into the 



' The term "Brother Jonathan" originated with ^Yashiuston, w'ao ap])lied it to Governor Jon- 
athan Trumbull, of Connecticut. When any important matter was in agitation the general would 
say, '"We must consult Brother Jonathan." 



SAYBROOK. 443 

most secluded hamlets, have rubbed oft' all the crust of an originality so pro- 
nounced as to have become the type, and often tlie caricature too, of Amer- 
ican nationality the world over. 

One peculiarity I have noticed is that of calling spinsters, of whatever age, 
"girls." I knew two elderly maiden ladies, each verging on three-score, wlio 
■were universally spoken of as the " Young girls," their names, I should perhaps 
explain, being Young. Once, when in quest of lodgings in a strange place, I 
was directed to apjjly to the two Brown girls, whose united ages, as I should 
judge, could not be less than a century and a quarter. But one is not to 
judge of New England girls by this sample. 

Another practice which prevails in some villages is that of designating 
father and son, where both have a common Christian-name, as "Big Tom" 
and " Little Tom ;" and brother and sister as " Bub " and " Sis." One can 
hardly maintain a serious countenance to hear a stalwart fellow of six feet 
alluded to as "Little" Tom, or Joe, or Bill, or a full-grown man or woman as 
" Bub " or " Sis." On the coast, nicknames are current principally among the 
sea-faring element; "Guinea Bill" or "Portugee Jack," presupposes the own- 
er to have made a voyage to either of those distant lands. 

The Italians count the whole twenty-four hours, beginning at half an hour 
after sunset. By this method of computation I reckoned on arriving at Say- 
brook Point at exactly twenty-two o'clock. I walked through the village 
leisurely observant of its outward aspect, which was that of undisturbed tran- 
quillity. Modern life had been so long in reaching it, that it had been willing 
to accommodate itself to the old houses, and so far to the old life of the place. 
The toilets here, as elsewhere, encroached in many instances upon those of 
the last century, and were wonderfully like the portraits one sees of the time. 
Now, let us have the old manners back again. 

One of the pleasantest old houses in Saybrook is the Hart mansion, which 
stands in the main street of the village, heavily draped by the foliage of three 
elm-trees of great size and beauty. It was a favorite retreat of that gallant 
sailor, Isaac Hull, who lost his heart there.' Like Nelson, he was the idol of 
his sailors, for he was as humane as he was brave. He seldom ordered one 
of his old sea-dogs to be flogged, but would call a culpi-it before him, ami 
after scolding him soundly with aftected roughness of tone and manner, would 
tell him to return to his duty. The Ohi^ro?}sides was loved with a love 
almost like* that which man bears to woman. Ladies would have kissed the 
hem of her sails; men scraped the barnacles from her bottom, and carried 
them home in their pockets. I have seen no end of canes, picture-frames, and 



' General William Hart, an old soldier of the Revolution, was a wealtliy and liijilily esteemed 
citizen of Saybrook. In 1795, with Oliver Phelps and others, he pinrhased the tract in Ohio called 
the Western Reserve. The Commodores Hidl, uncle and nejihew, married sisters belonging to 
this family. Commodore Andrew 11 till Foote was also a nephew of Commodore Isaac Hull, whose 
widow was still living when I visited Savbrook in 1S74. 



444 



THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 




ISAAC HULL. 



Other souvenirs of this famous ship treasured by fortunate possessors; and 
one of the old merchants of Boston had his street door made of her oak. 

Saybrook is languid. It is 
dispersed along one broad and 
handsome street, completely can- 
opied by an arch of foliage. You 
seem, when at the entrance, to be 
looking through a green tunnel. 
In this street there is no noise and 
but little movement. The few 
shops were without custom. Af- 
ter the spasm of activity caused 
by the arrival of the train — when 
it seemed for the moment to rub 
its eyes and brisk up a little, 
carriages and pedestrians having 
mysteriously disappeared some- 
where — the old town dozed again. 
The Connecticut is here tame 
and uninteresting, with near 
shores of salt - marsh flatness^ 
Yellow sand-bars, green hummocks, or jutting points skirted with pine- 
groves, inclose the stream, which is broad, placid, and shallow. There are 
no iron headlands, or dangerous reefs. Nature seems quite in harmony with 
the general quietude and restfulness. 

A few years ago there existed at the Point the remains of a colonial for- 
tress, with much history clustering around it. It was raised in the very in- 
fancy of English settlement at the mouth of the Connecticut; and when the 
Revolution came, the old dismounted cannon, that had perhaps done duty 
with Howard or Blake, were again placed on the ramparts. The railway peo- 
ple have reduced the hill on which it stood to a flat and dreary gravel waste.^ 
This is walking into antiquity with a vengeance ! It is perhaps fortunate that 
the Coliseum, Temple Bar, and St. Denis are not where they would be valued 
for the cubic yards of waste material they might afford. 

The Dutch anticipated the English in the settlement on Connecticut River. 
The Hollanders at Fort Amsterdam, and the then rival colonies of Plymouth 
and Massachusetts Bay, were each desirous of obtaining a foothold which each 
felt too weak to undertake alone. The country had been subjugated by the 
Pequots, whose territory neither colony might invade without bringing the 
whole nation upon them. 

^ The eminence on which the fort stood, .nlso called Tomb Hill, jutted into the river, being 
united to the shore by a beach, and bordered by salt-marshes. It was steep and unassailable from 
any near vantage-ground. In 1G47 the first fort was accidentally destroyed by fire. 



SAYBROOK. 



445 



The Dutch were also first to visit the river, and to inform the PilcTrims of 
its beauty and advantages for traffic. In 1633, Massaclinsetts having reject- 
ed overtures for a joint occupation, Plymouth determined to establish a trad- 
ing-post upon the river without her aid. Aj)prised of this intention, the 
Dutch dispatched an expedition, which disembarked where Hartford now is. 
A house was hastily erected, and ordnance mounted, with which tlie Holland- 
ers gave notice that they meant to keep out intruders. 

The Plymouth expedition, under command of William Holmes, ascended 
the river, and, notwithstanding an attempt to stop them, passed by the Dutch 
fort. They landed at Nattawanute, afterward Windsor, and, having made 
themselves secure, sent their vessel home. Word was sent to Fort Amster- 
dam of the invasion. A company of seventy dispatched to the scene ad- 
vanced "brimful of wrath and cabbage," with drums beating and colors liv- 
ing, against the English fort. Seeing the Pilgrims were in nowise discon- 
certed, the Dutch captain ordered a halt ; a parley took place, and, having 
thus vindicated the national honor, Gualtier Twilley's men withdrew.' 

The attempts of Plymouth to establish tributary plantations, with trad- 
ing-posts, at the extreme eastern and western limits of New England, were 
equally disastrous. Massachusetts stood quietly by, and saw her rival dis- 
possessed at Penobscot, but at Windsor the Plymouth people soon found 
themselves hemmed in between settlements made by emigrants from the bay. 
As a quarrel would perhaps have been alike fatal to both, Plymouth gave 
way to her more powerful neighbor. 

The English settlement of Connecticut is usually assigned to the year 
1635, the year of beginnings at Hartford, Wethersfield, and Saybrook. In the 
autumn the younger Winthrop sent a few men to take possession and fortify 
at the mouth of the Connecticut, as agent of Lords Say, Brook, and their as- 
sociate owners of the patent." This expedition foi'estalled by a few days 
only a new attempt to obtain possession by the Dutch, who, finding the En- 
glish already landed and having cannon mounted, abandoned their design. 

Through the agency of the celebrated Hugh Peters, the patentees engaged, 
and sent to New England, Lion Gardiner, a military engineer who had served 
in the Low Countries. He arrived at Boston in November, 1635, and pro- 
ceeded to the fort at the mouth of the Connecticut. He was followed by 
George Fenwick, sent over by Lord Say to be resident agent of the English 

* In the British State Paper Office is a translation of part of a letter, dated at Fort Amsterdam, 
in 1633, from Gualtier Twilley to the governor of Massachusetts Bay, concerning the right of the 
Dutch to the river. The governor says that he has taken possession of it in the name of the States 
General, and set up a house on the north side, with intent to plant. He desires Winthrop will 
defer his claims until their superior magistrates are agreed. The word "[Hudson?]" is placed 
after " river " in the calendars, but the date and other given facts are probably allusions to the Con- 
necticut attempt. 

° Lieutenant Gibbons, Sergeant Willard, and some carpenters. — "Lion Gardiner's Account." 



44G 



THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 



proprietors. Fenwick, accompanied by Peters, reached tlie fort in tlie spring. 
Tlie plantation was called Saybrook, as a compliment to the two principal 
personages interested in its founding. 

Saybrook has perhaps acquired a certain importance in the eyes of histor- 
ical writers to which no other spot of Xew England's soil can pretend. There 
is little room to doubt that Lord Say, and pei-haps some of his associates, 
strongly entertained tlie idea of I'emoving thither.' A more debatable asser- 
tion, which is, however, well fortified with authorities, represents Oliver Crom- 
■well, John Hampden, Pym, and Sir Arthur Haselrig as having been prevented 
fi-om embarking only by an express order from the king : some, indeed, assert 
that they actually embarked.^ 

In the old burial-place of Saybrook Point is the most curious sepulchral 

memorial in New England. I can 
compare it with nothing but a Druid 
monument, it is so massy, so roughly 
shaped, and so peculiar in form. Un- 
til a few years ago, it stood within a 
field south-west of the foi-t, over the 
dust of j^eorge Fenwick's Avife," a 
woman of gentle blood. The "im- 
provements" made by the railway in 
this vicinity caused the removal of 
the monument to its present position. 
When the remains of Lady Fenwick 
were disinterred, the skeleton was 
found to be nearly entire. Beneath 
the skull was lying a heavy braid of 
auburn hair, which was parceled out among the villagers. My informant of- 
fered to show me the tress that had fallen to his share. 

I acknowledge it, I am the fool of association ; and when I see the spade 
thrust among graves, I wince a little. I would have Shakspeare's ajipeal and 
malediction inscribed over the entrance to every old grave-yard in Xew En- 

^ See the eoiTespondence in Hutchinson's ''History of Massachusetts," appendix, vol. i., be- 
tween John Cotton and Lord Say. 

^ Tliere is nothing improbahle in tlie story, either from the rank or political importance of the 
personages mentioned ; the civil commotions in England rather give it a groundwork of probabil- 
ity. Tlie authorities in support of the emigration are Dr. George Bates, the physician of Crom- 
well, in his '''Elenchus Maluum Nuperorum in Anglia," William Lilly's ''Life and Times" (Lon- 
don, 1822), Sir William Dugdale's "Troubles in England," Mather's "Magnalia," Oldmixon's 
"British Empire in America," Neal's " History of New England," and Hutchinson's " History of 
Massachusetts." Hume, Chalmers, Grahame, Hallam, Russell, Macaulay, and others repeat the 
slbry with various modifications ; Aiken, Eorster, Bancroft, Young, and others deny or doubt it. 
The arguments pro and con may be consulted in the "New England Historical and Genealogical 
Register for 18GG." 




A MOSS-GKOWN MEMOKIAL. 



SAYBROOK. 44^ 

gland. But, after all, wliat is Shakspeare's nialcMliclion to tliese trouble- 
tombs who anticipate the Resurrection, and give the bui-ial service the lie. 
Our bones ache at the thought of being tossed about on a laborers shovel. 
Rather come cremation than mere tenure at will at the tender mercies of 
these levelers. When we have been "put to bed with a shovel," and have 
pulled our green coverlet over us, let us have the peace that passeth all un- 
derstanding. 

Not much is known of Lady Anne Boteler, or Butler, the wife of Georo-e 
Fenwick. It is surmised that she died in childbed. The inscription that her 
monument undoubtedly bore has been so long obliterated that no record re- 
mains of it. A newer one, with the simple name and date, "Lady Fenwick, 
died 1648," has been cut in the perishable sandstone. Some one has also 
caused the cross to be chiseled there.' Considering the peculiar aversion 
with which the Puritans regarded the cross, the appearance of one on the 
tombstone of Lady Fenwick is suggestive of the famous prohibition of the 
cemetery of Saint Medard : 

"De par le roi, defense a IMeii 
De faire nuiacle en ce lieu." 

Dr. Dwight states, as of report, that Fenwick, before his return to En- 
gland, made provision for having his wife's tomb kept in repair. The sale of 
the title of Lords Say and Brook by him, in 1044, to Connecticut, is consid- 
ered evidence as well of the existence of the design of removal alluded to as 
of its abandonment. After the death of Lady Fenwick her husband returned 
to England, and is mentioned as one of the i-egicide-judges. He subsequently 
appears with the title of "colonel," and is believed to be the same person 
who besieged Hume Castle, in 1G50, for Cromwell. On being summoned, the 
governor sent his defiance in verse : 

"I, William of the Wastle, 
Am now in my Castle : 
And aw the dogs in the town 
Shanna gar me gang down."" 

The English at Saybrook Point protected the land approacli with a pali- 



' Lechford, in his "Plain Dealing," says, "There are five or six townes and Churches upon 
the River Connecticut where are worthy master Hooker, master Warham, master Hewet, and 
divers others, and master Fenwike, with the Lady Boteler, at the river's mouth in a faire house, 
and well fortified, and one master Higgison, a young man, their chaplain. These Plantations 
have a Patent; the Lady was lately admitted of Master Hooker's Chnrch, and thereupon her child 
was baptized." 

^ Fenwick "played, upon him "a little "with the great guns," which did gar him gang down 
more fool than he went up. — Carlyle. Hutchinson places his death in l(>r>7. There was a Lieu- 
tenant-colonel Fenwick killed in one of the battles between Conde' and Turenne, in Flanders, in 
1658. The action occurred before Dunkirk. Fenwick's last request of Lockiiart, the English 
commander, was to be buried in Dunkirk. — Thokloe, vol. i., p. ir>G. 



448 THE NEW ENGLAND COAST. 

sade drawn across the narrow isthmus, which very high tides overflowed and 
isolated from the main-land. Their corn-field was two miles distant from the 
foi't, and skulking Pequots were always on the alert to waylay and murder 
them. Some of the Bay magistrates having spoken contemptuously of Indian 
arrows, Gardiner' sent them the rib of a man in which one, after passing- 
through the body, had buried itself so that it could not be withdrawn. 

Gardiner's manner of dealing with Indians was peculiar. When the ex- 
pedition against the Pequots was at Saybrook Fort, distrusting Mohegan 
faith, he resolved to make a trial of it. He therefore called Uncas before him, 
and said, " You say you will help Major Mason, but I will first see it ; there- 
fore send you now twenty men to the Bass River, for there went yesternight 
six Indians in a canoe thither ; fetch them now, dead or alive, and then you 
shall go with Major Mason, else not." So Uncas sent his men, who killed 
four and captured one, the sixth making his escape. 

The old burial-ground of Saybrook is neat and well kept. Lady Fen- 
wick's monument is just within the entrance, concealed by a clump of fir- 
trees. Not a quarter of the graves have stones, and that part of the ground 
occupied by the ancients of the village is so mounded and overcrowded that 
you may not avoid walking upon them. In another spot head-stones jutted 
above the turf at every variety of angle, and several monuments had cavities, 
showing where they had been robbed of leaden coats of arms — to run into 
bullets, perhaps. All are of ample dimensions, and on older ones creeping 
mosses conceal the inscriptions. The variety of color presented by slate, 
sandstone, or marble upon green is not unpleasing to the eye, yet those 
reckonings scored upon slate shall endure longest. 

In the Hart inclosure repose the ashes of the once beautiful Jeannette M. 
M. Hart, whose slab bears the symbol of her faith. She, the fairest of all the 
sisters, renounced the world and, embracing the Roman faith, became a nun. 
Her remains were brought home from Rome, and laid to rest with the service 
of the Church of England. In a little separate inclosure, whispered to have 
been consecrated by the rite of Rome, another sister is lying. When Com- 
modore Hull cruised in the old frigate United States, one of these beautiful 
girls was on board his ship. She was seen by Bolivar, who fell desperately 
in love with her at a ball, and became so attentive that the American ofiicers 
believed they were betrothed.^ 

Saybrook was also the original site of Yale College, fifteen commence- 

' Lion Gardiner became the owner of the fertile island bearing his name at the east end of Long 
Island. It is seven miles long and a mile broad, with excellent soil. Some time ago its peculiar 
beauty and salubrity caused it to be called the Isle of Wight. The island, I believe, still remains 
in the possession of the Gardiner family. For many years it descended regularly from father to 
son by entail. The Indian name was Munshongonuc, or "the place of Indian graves." 

° One sister married Commodore Hull, as related; another married Hon. Herhan Allen, minis- 
ter to Chili ; and a thiid. Rev. Dr. Jarvis, of St. Paul's, Boston. 



SAYBROOK. 



449 



ments having occm-red here. The building, which was of a single story, 
stood about midway between fort and palisade. Its removal, in 1718, to New 
Haven occasioned great excitement, and the library had to be carried awav 
under the protection of a guard. The Saybrook Platform, so called, was 
adopted here after tlie commencement of 1708. Harvard and Yale were in 
infancy probably not diffei-ent from those Scotch universities which Dr. John- 
son said were like a besieged town, where every man had a mouthful, but no 
man a bellyful. 

The shores about Saybrook oifer little that is noteworthy. On the beach 
the tide softly laps the incline of sand, that looks like a slab of red freestone, 
iine-grained and hard. A dry spot flashing beneath your tread, or perhaps 
a sea-bird circling above your head, attends your loiterings. 

Look now off upon the Sound, where the golden sunset is flowing over it, 
gilding the waves, the distant shores, and the sails of passing vessels with 
beams that in dying are transfused into celestial fires. Idle boats are rocked 
and caressed on this golden sea. Yonder distant gleam is a light-house, kin- 
dled with heavenly flame. The world is transfigured, that we may believe in 
Paradise. Soon yellow flushes into pale crimson, blending with a sapphire 
sky. Standing on the strand, we are transformed, and seem to quaft" of the 
elixir of life. Now the violet twilight deepens into sombre shadows. A 
spark appears in the farther sea. Soon others shine out like glow-worms in 
your path; while twinkling stars, seen for a moment, disappear, as if they, too, 
revolved for some more distant shore. The Sound becomes a vague and heav- 
ing blackness. And now, with gentle murmurings, the rising tide efiaces our 

wayward foot-prints, 

29 



INDEX. 



A. 

Acadia, New England, inclnded in, 18 ; means 
taken to people, 25 ; expatriation of the 
French, 303. 

Adams, John, resists the pretensions of the 
French Directory, 378, 392. 

Agamenticus, called Snadoun Hill, 21 ; landfell 
of earl}' navigators, 120 ; ascent of, 123; mount- 
ains seen from, 125. 

Agassiz, Louis, at Mount Desert, 48 ; anecdotes 
of, and personal appearance, 49. 

Alden, John, claimed to have first landed on 
Plymouth Rock, 290 ; tradition of his court- 
ship, 300, 301. 

Alexander, William (Earl of Sterling), islands 
in his patent, 339. 

Alfonse, Jean, cited, 18; his manuscripts and ac- 
count of him, 22. 

Allerton, Isaac, at Marblehead, 236. 

Appledore Island, IfiO, 187. 

Argall, Sir Samuel, his descent at IMount Desert 
Island, 24, 36. 

Arnold, Governor Benedict, extract from his will, 
371, note. 

Arnold, General Benedict, 427; anecdoteof, 427, 
428 ; attacks New London, 428, 429 ; birth- 
place, 437. 

Aubert, Thomas, supposed discovery by, 21, 275. 

Audubon, Joiin James, at INIount Desert, 48. 

Auvergne, Latour de, in America, 396. 

Auvergne regiment, 396. 

B. 

Badger's Island, 149. 

Bald Head Cliff (York, Maine), described, 115, 

116 ; wreck at, 117. 
Bar Harbor, visit to, 43. 
Barton, Colonel William, carries off General Pres- 

cott, 409, 410. 
Basques, on the New England coast, 125 ; at 

Newfoundland, 126. 
Baye Fran9oise, the true Frenchman's Bay, 50. 
Beauchamp, John, mentioned, 60. 



Beaver Tail (Newport), 357, 381. 

Beaver, the, former value of, 41, 42. 

Beebe, Rev. George, at the Shoals, 167. 

Belfast, Maine, name of, 63, note. 

Belknap, Jeremy, his account of a sand-ava- 
lanche, 319. 

Berkeley, George (Bishop), portrait of, 368 ; at 
Newport, 384. 

Bernard, General Simon, Napoleon's estimate of, 
378, 379 ; ui the United States, 379 ; builds 
Fortress Monroe and Fort Morgan, 379, note. 

Biard, Pere, arrives at Port Royal, 35 ; at Mount 
Desert, 35. 

Billington, John, executed at Plymouth, 267. 

Biron, Due de Lauzun, 394. 

Blauw, or Blaeuv Guillaume, atlas cited, 21. 

Block Island, 421. See note. 

Blue-berries, their value in New England, 39 ; 
humors of the pickers, 120. 

Blue-fish, singular disappearance of, 344. 

Blythe, Captain Samuel, killed, 107. 

Body of Laws, extracts from, 268. 

Bon Temps, order of, 95, 96. 

Boon Island, wreck of the A'o?//n(7/ia;H, 172, 173. 

Boteler, Lady Anne. See Fenwick. 

Bradford, William, his manuscript history of 
Plymouth, 268 ; monument at Plymouth. 277; 
284, 285, 286, 290, note, 291 ; receives Massa- 
soit, 293, 294 ; account of Cape Cod, 307. 

Brevoort, J. Carson, 359. note. 

Brigadier's Island, ownership and fishery at. 64. 

Brock, Rev. John, anecdote of, 1(53. 

Brodhead, John Romevn, mentioned, 22, note, 
278. 

Bromfield, Major, kills Colonel Ledyard, 428. 

Brother Jcmathan, origin of the name, 442, note. 

Broughton, Nicholas, 251. 

Brown, Dexter, establishes first stage-coach be- 
tween Boston and Providence, 411. 

Brown, Robert, founder of Brownists, 280, note. 

Brown's Island (Plymoutli), disappearance of, 
295. 

Bidl, Governor Henry, burial-place of, 405, note. 

Burroughs, George, at Wells, 111. 

Burrows, Lieutenant William, killed, 107. 



452 



INDEX. 



Cabot, Sebastian, voyage of, 20. 

Camden Mountains, iipproach to, G2 ; Indian 

name of, 93. 
Canonicut Island, visited, 380. See note. 
Cape Ann, fishery at, 1,57. 
Cape Arundel, spouting-liorn at, 47. 
Cape Breton, early knowledge of, 21. 
Cape Cod, a cou/) d'ceil of, 304-306 ; early ac- 
counts of, 307 ; Poutrincourt's fight at, 308 ; 
ship canal begun from Barnstable to Buzzard's 
Bay, 311, note ; harbors frozen in 1875, 320 ; 
changes in its exterior shores, 322, 323. 

Cape Cod Harbor (x^rovincetown). 

Cape Neddock, 122. 

Capuchins, at Pentagoet, 81 ; Napoleon's opinion 
of, 82. 

Cartier, Jacques, sails for America, 20 ; manner 
of taking possession of Canada, 23. 

Carver, John, supposed burial-i)lace, 276. 

Carver, Nathaniel, Lord Nelson's generous act to. 
271. 

Castin, the younger, kidnaped, 81 ; returns to 
France, 81. 

Castin, Jean Vincent, Baron de, sketch of, 79, 
80 ; in the attack on Pemaquid, 98. 

Castine, approach to, 64, 65 ; views from Fort 
George, 65 ; seized and fortified by the British, 
67 ; besieged, 68, 69 ; Indian name of, 67 ; 
Fort Pentagoet described, 74 ; singular dis- 
covery of coins at, 74, 75 ; its early history 
sketched, 76-82 ; old cemetery of, 84. 

Cedar Island, 160. 

Chanibly, M. de, made prisoner at Pentagoet, 78. 

Champernowne, Arthur, 149. 

Champernowne, Francis, 149. 

Champlain, Samuel, quoted, 18; title of his 
map, 22, note ; names Mount Desert, 28 ; voy- 
age of 1604, 92, 93; suggests " L'Ordre de 
Bon Temps," 95 ; descries Isles of Shoals, 122 ; 
description of Plymouth Bay, 274, 275 ; at 
Cape Cod, 308 ; account of Indian fishing, 314. 

Chauning, William EUery, 400, note. 

Charlevoix's account of siege of Fort William 
Henry, 99. 

Chastellux. Marquis, 894. 

Chilton, Mary, tradition about, 291. 

Chouacouet. See Saco River. 

Clnistmas, how observed in Plymouth, 292. 

Chubb, Pascho, surrenders the fort at Pemaquid, 
99. 

Church, Colonel Benjamin, at Castine, 75, 302, 
372. 

Church, F. E., anecdote of, 50. 

Clark, D.Wasgatt, a native of Mount Desert, 49. 

Clark's Island (Plymouth), 269; sail to, 295; 



Watson House, 297 ; Election Rock, 297, 298 ; 

landing of the exjdoring party, 298. 
Clinton, Sir Henry, outgeneraled by Washington, 

428. 
Cob-money, specimens found at Castine, 75, note. 
Cod-fish aristocracy, origin of the appellation, 

314. 
Cod-fishery in the sixteenth century, 156 ; in the 

seventeenth, 232-236 ; at Provincetown, 313, 

314. 
Coddington, William, sketch of, 360 ; at Anne 

Hutchinson's trial, 361 ; decay of his family, 

362 ; burial-place of, 405. 
Coffin, Sir Isaac, founds a school at Nantucket, 

341, 342. 
Coggeshall, John, at Anne Hutchinson's trial, 

361 ; monument to, 405. 
Colbert mentioned, 78, 82. 
Collins, Cajjtaiu Gamaliel, 316. 
Colonial society described, 60. 
Connecticut River, settlements on, 444, 445, 446. 
Constitution, frigate, chased into Maiblehead, 

256. 
Corey, Giles, pressed to deatli, 227. 
Corwin, Jonathan, a witch-judge, 223. 
Cousin, Captain, story of iiis discovery of Amer- 
ica, 22. 
Cradock, Governor Matthew, establishes fishing- 
station at Marblehead, 236. 
Cranberry, the, growth and culture of, 39, 317. 
Cranberry Islands, 39. 
Cromwell, Oliver, his proposed emigration to 

New England, 446. 
Cushman, Charlotte, residence at Newport, 375. 
Cushman, Robert, 277. 
Cushman, Thomas, 277. 
Cutts, Captain Joseph, 143. 
Cutts, Sarah Chauncy, sad story of, 142, 143. 
Cuttyhunk, first English colony at, 327. See note. 



D. 



Damariscotta, oyster-shell heaps at, visited and 

described, 100, 101. 
Daniel, Father, his history mentioned, 23. 
Dartmouth Indians sold as slaves, 302. 
D'Aulnay Charuisay (Charles de Menou), at 

Pentagoet, 76 ; imbroglio with La Tour, 77 ; 

his death, 78. 
Dean, John Ward, 173, note. 
Deane, John, 173. 

Deane, Silas, Mr. Adams's opinion of, 431. 
Decatur, Ste])hen, blockaded at New London, 

432 ; duel with Barron, 433. See note. 
De Costa, B. F., mentioned, 22, note. 
De Monts, efforts of. to obtain colonists, 25 ; 

cedes his privileges in Aoadia, 34, 35 ; his 



INDEX. 



453 



commission and privileges, 153-155; descries 
the Isles of Shoals, 155; in Plymouth Bay, 
273, 274-, 275. 

Dermer, Captain Thomas, at Nantucket, 324. 

Daux-Ponts, Count Christian, anecdote of, 395. 
See note. 

D'Iberville, makes a demonstration against Pem- 
aquid, 97 ; captures Fort William Henry, 98. 
See note. 

Dighton Rock, inscription attributed to North- 
men, 369, 41G, 417, 418. 

Dorr liebellion, 365, note. 

Doty or Doten, Edward, fights a duel, 2GG, 297, 
note. 

Douglass, William, quoted, 23, 24. 

Down East, an undiscovered country, 85, 86. 

Drake, Sir Bernard, manner of his death, 24. 

Dreuillettes, Pere Gabriel, at Plymouth, 285. 

Duck Island, 160, 190. 

Dummer, Shubael, minister of York, 135. 

Dumplings, fort on, 358, 380, 381. 

Dunbar, Colonel David, at Pemaquid, 100. 

Dutcli Island, 380. 

Du Thet, Gilbert, killed at Mount Desert, 36. 

Duxbury, sail to, from Plymouth, 299 ; Cap- 
tain's Ilill and monument, 300 ; historic per- 
sonages of Duxbury, 300, et seq. 

Dwight, Timothy, at Newport, 370. 



ElJery, William, his death, 400. 

Endicott, Governor John, his farm, 218, 255. 

Estaing, Count de, at Newport, 387 ; guillotined, 

388. 
Excommunication in New England churches, 

280, 281, note. 

P. . 

Fannce, Thomas, identifies Plymouth Rock, 289, 

note. 
Fenwick, George, 445, 446, 447. 
Fenwick, Lady, her remarkable monument, 446 ; 

her story, 447. 
Fillmore, Jolm, exploit of, 176. 
Fislier's Island, 420, 422, note. 
Flucker, Lucy, marries General Knox, 61. 
Fly, William, the pirate, 177, 178. 
Forefather's Day, its true date and significance, 

290. 
Fort Adams, 358 ; Fort Day, 377 ; history of the 

fortress, 377, 378. 
Fort Constitution, Great Island, New Hampshire, 

199, 200. 
Fort Fenwick, Saybrook, 444, 445. 
Fort Frederick, Pemaquid, described, 96. 
Fort George, Castine, described, 66 ; siege of, 



67, 68, 09 ; imprisonment and escape of Gen- 
eral Wadswortli and Major Burton, 70, 71. 

Fort Griswold, 422. See note ; assault on, 428, 
429. See note. 

Fort M 'Clary, 144. 

Fortress Monroe, 379. 

Fort Morgan, Mobile, 379, note. 

Fort Pentagoet, Castine, described, 73, 74. 

Fort Point, site of, 63, 66. 

Fort Sewall, Marblehead, 255. 

Fort Trumbull, 422. See note, 428. 

Fort William Henry, Pemaquid, description and 
importance of, 97; captured by D'lben-ille, 
99. 

Fort Wolcott, 358. See note. 

Fox, George, at Newport, 403 ; denounces the 
New England magistrates, 403. See note. 

Frankland, Sir Charles, romantic marriage of, 
256. 

Franklin, Benjamin, 341. 

Fremont, General John C, mentioned, 43. 

Friday not an unlucky day, 26. 

Funeral customs, ancient, 136. 

G. 

Gardiner's Island, 448, note. 

Gardiner, Lion, at Saybrook, 445, 448. See note. 

Garrison-houses described, 139, 140. 

Gay Head, Indian legend of, 349. 

George III., cause of his insanity, 394. 

Gerrish's Island, 149. 

Gerry, Elbridge, 249, 250. 

Gerrymander, the, origin of, 250, note. 

Gibson, James, 146. 

Gilbert, Raleigli, with Popham's colony, 93. 

Gilbert, Sir H., method of taking possession of 
Newfoimdland, 23. 

Glover, General John, anecdote of, 253; tomb 
of, 259. 

Goat Island, Newport, 358. 

Gorgeana. See Old York. 

Gorges, Sir F., notice of Weymouth's voyage, 
92 ; plantation at Agamenticus, Old York, 131. 
et seq. 

Gorges, Ferdinnndo, son of Thomas, 131. 

Gorges, Robert, 133. 

Gorges, Thomas, mayor of Gorgeana, 131. 

Gorges, Captain William, 131. 

Great Head Cliff, Mount Desert, 50. 

Great Island. See Newcastle. 

Gregoire, Madame, at Mount Desert, 56. 

Gridley, Richard, at Louishurg, 147. 

Groton, the battle monument, 427; British at- 
tack on, 426: the Peqiiots destroyed, 42!), 430. 

Guercheville, Madame de, attempts to colonize 
Mount Desert, 34, 35, 36, 



454 



INDEX. 



H. 

Hakluyt, Richard, quoted, 19. 

Hale, Kev. John, on witchcraft, 214. 

Haley's Island. See Smutty Nose. 

Haley, Samuel, 175 ; his epitaph, 183. 

Hamilton, Lady Emma, 433. 

Hancock, Dorothy Quincy, 204, 205. 

Hardy, Sir Thomas Masterman, off New Lon- 
don, 432 ; declines a duel of ships, 433 ; at 
Nelson's death-bed, 433. 

Harrison, Peter, 360. See note. 

Hart, General William, 433. See note. 

Hawkins, Thomas, the jjirate, 17G. 

Hawthorne, Nathaniel, birthplace of, 221. 

Hebrews at Newport, 3G6, 307. 

Hempstead, Sir Robert, 425. 

Henrietta d'Orleans poisoned, 56. 

Henry IV. 's projects in the New World, 20 ; as- 
sassinated, 35. 

Herring Cove, 319, 320. 

Hessians at Newport, 380, 381. 

Higginson, Francis, account of Salem, etc., 241. 

Hilton, Martha, romantic story of, 205, 206. 

Hilton, Richard, 205. See note. 

Hog Island. See Appledore. 

Holmes's Hole, 327, 7iote. 

Houtvet, .lohn, heroism of his wife, 185. 

Hopkins, Dr. Samuel, 406. 

Howe, Richard, Earl, naval action with D'Es- 
taing, 388. 

Howland's Ferry, 413, note. 

Hull, Commodore Isaac, 443, 444. 

Hull, General William, mentioned, 56. 

Hum]jhries, Joshua, report on establishing a 
dock-yard at Newport, 378. 

Huntington, General Eben, 438, 439. 

Huntington, General Jedidiah, 438. 

Huntington, Governor Samuel, 439. 

Hutchinson, Anne, her trial and banishment, 
361, 362. 



Ireson, Benjamin (called Flood), of Marblehead, 
story of, 253, 254. 

Isle au Haut, named, 29. 

Isle Nauset, total disappearance of, 322. 

Isle of Rhodes. See Rhode Island. 

Isles of Shoals, De JMonts sees tiiem, 155 ; de- 
scribed by Smitli and Levett, 155, 156 ; advan- 
tages for fishery, 157 ; sail from Portsmouth, 
158; isles described, 160, see note; their name, 
IGl ; general aspect of, 162 ; Star Island ram- 
bles, 162, et seq. ; semi-barbarous condition of 
ancient Gosport, 164, 165; burial-grounds, 166, 
167 ; caverns and cliffs, 168, 169, 170 ; Miss Un- 



derbill's chair, 170, 171 ; mountains seen off the 
coast, 172, note; dun-fish, 174 ; Smutty Nose, 
175 ; piracy in colonial time, 176-179 ; Elack- 
beard, 178 ; Thomas Morton, Gent., 180, 181 ; 
Samuel Haley, 183; the Spanish wreck, 184; 
Wagner, the murderer, 185, 186 ; Appledore, 
186-190; Duck Island, 190; Londoner's, 191 ; 
White Island Ligiit, 192. 

J. 

Jackson, Andrew, 151. 

Jeffrey's Ledge, 161. 

Jesuits, persecutions by, 82 ; intrigues of, 82, 83. 

Jones, Margaret, executed as a witch, 210. 

Jourdan, Jean Baptiste, Marshal of France, at 

Newport, 388. 
Judson, Adoniram, 277. 



Kadesrpiit, probably Kenduskeag, 35. 

Kalb, Baron de, in New England on a secret 
mission, 387. 

Kennebec River, discovery and name, 92. 

King, Charles Bird, 368. 

Kittery Point, named, 141, note ; the Cutts 
House, 142; Fort M 'Clary, 144 ; the Pepper- 
ells, 144, et seq.; Pepperell tomb, 147; Ger- 
rish's Island, 149 ; other islands, 149 ; John 
Langdon. 150, 151. 

Knox, General Henry, connection with Waldo 
patent, 61 ; involves General Lincoln, 62. 



Lafayette, 390 ; at Newport, 391. 

Laighton, Thomas B., 192. 

Langdon, John, anecdotes of, 150, 151, 200, note. 

La Peyrouse in America, 71., 

La Tom-, Aglate, sells the seigniory of Acadia, 78. 

La Tom-, Chevalier, mentioned, 76 ; troubles 

with D'Anlnay, 77, 78. 
Lawrence, Captain James, death of, 257. 
Lee, General Charles, at Newport, 356, note, 404. 
Lee, Colonel Jeremiah, sketch of, 245. 
Lee, John, 247. 
Lee, William Raymond. 247. 
Leffingwell. Thomas, relieves Lncas, 436. 
Leonard Forge, Taunton, 419. 
Lescarbot, Marc, his criticism of Alfonse, 18 ; 

quoted, 58. 
Levett, Christnjiher, mentioned, 96 ; describes 

Agamenticus, 131 ; at Isles of Shoals, 155, 

156, 161 ; notice of Plymouth, 273. 
Leverett, John, a Muscongus patentee, GO ; at 

Pentagoet, 78. 



INDEX. 



455 



Lincoln, General Benjamin, sketch of, Gl. 
Liveimore, Samuel, attempts to slio'ot Captain 

Broke, 'J.'>7. 
Lobsters, process of canning for market, 84; 

facts about, 85. 
Longfellow, Kon. Stephen, 71, 
Long Island Sound, 4l'l. 
Londoner's Island, IGO, 191. 
Louis XIV. marries I)e Maintenon, 82 ; opinion 

of La Salle's discoveries, 83. 
Lovell, Solomon, commands in Penobscot expe- 
dition, G8 ; retreats, G9. 



M. 

Mackerel, habits of, 91. 
IMacy, Tiioinas, settles at Nantucket, 339. 
"Magnalia," Mather's, Southey's opinion of, 93. 
Maine, sea-coast of, 17, 18; embraces Norum- 
bega, Mavoshen, 18 ; other names applied to 
her territory, 18; French occui)ation of, 18; 
her enterprise and products, GO ; part of Mas- 
sachusetts, GS. 
Maintenon, Madame de, intrigue with the Jesu- 
its, 82, 83. 
Malaga Island, IGO. 
Malbone, Colonel Godfrey, 408, 409, 
Malbone, Edward G., 409. 
Maiianas Island, 104. 
Maidy, John, 2r)l, 252. 
Mansell, Sir Robert, mentioned, 34. 
Maiblehead, its conformation and topography 
228, 229, 230, 231 ; Lafayette there, 229 ; isl- 
ands off the port, 231 ; the Neck, 231 ; annals 
and decay of the cod-lishery, 232, 233, 234, 
235; early settlement, 236, 241, 242; de- 
scribed, 238, 239, 240, 241 ; character of 'early 
fishermen, 243; Goelet's account, 243; Lee 
Mansion, 245, 24G ; St. Michael's, 248; the 
old sea-lions, 251, 252 ; the dialect, 254 ;'Fort 
Sewall, 255; Chesapeake and Shannon, 25G, 
257; old burial-ground, 258; perils of the 
fishery, 259, 2G0. 
Marriage, first, in New England, 285. 
Mashope, legend of, 349. 
Mason, Captain John, 201. 
Mason, John, attacks the Pequot stronghold, 429 
note, 430. ' 

Massachusetts Bay, alleged discovery of, 18, 22. 
Massachusetts Historical Society, motive of its 

founding, 147. 
iMassasoit, entry into Plymouth, 293, 294. 
Masse, Enemond, at Mount Desert. 35. 
Mavoshen, Maine, so styled, 18. 
Mayhew, Thomas, purchases Nantucket, 339; 
owns Martha's Vineyard and Elizabeth Isl- 
ands, 340. 



May-pole, ancient custom of, 182. 

M'CIary, Andrew, 144. 

M'Lean, Colonel Francis, seizes and fortifies 

Castine, G7. 
Mercator, atlas of, cited, 21. 
Miantonimo makes war on Uncas, 435 ■ is killed 

436. 
Miantonimo Hill, 407, 408. 
Mohegan Indians, 43G, 437. 
Monhegan Island, probably seen and named in 
1604, 92, 102; early knowledge of, 1(J2 ; de- 
scribed, 104 ; inscription at, 106 ; naval battle 
near, 106, 107, 324. 
Moody, Joseph, Handkerchief, 135. 
Moody, Rev. Samuel, anecdote of, 135 ; epitaph, 

136. 
Moore, Sir John, at Castine, 67; Napoleon's 

opinion of, 68. 
Morse, Rev. Jedediah, at the Shoals, 164; de- 
scribes curing fish, 174. 
Morse, S. F. B., paints Landing of Pilgrims, 264. 
Morton, Thomas, his banishment, 180, 181. 
Mount Desert Island, discovered and named 
28; Champlain's description of, 29; mountain 
ranges, 29-32 ; approach from Ellsworth, 31 ; 
first settlers, 33 ; road to South-west Harbor, 
33, 34 ; French colony on, 34, 35, 36 ; shell- 
heaps at, 37; neighborhood of South-west 
Harbor, 38, 39 ; islands off Somes's Sound, 
39; Christmas on, 40, et seq. ; route to Bar 
Harbor, 41, 42 ; island nomenclatuie, 42 ; isl- 
ands off Bar Harbor, 43; shore rambles to 
Schooner Head and Great Head, 43-48 ; nat- 
uralists and artists who have visited, 48-50; 
excursion to Otter Creek and North-east Har- 
bor, 53, 54 ; the Ovens, etc., 55, 56, 
Mount Desert Rock, 53. 
Mount Hope, 414, 415, 416. 
Mugford, Captain -James, 252, 253, 259, 
Muscongus patent, histoiy of, 60, 61. 



N. 

Nantucket, its early discovery, 324 ; name, 325, 
341 ; voyage to, 326, 327 ; the town descrii)ed. 
328, 329, 330 ; whales, ships, and whaling. 
331-334 ; Nantucket in the Revolution, 335 ; 
cruising for whales, 335; the camels, 336; 
whaling annals, 336, 337 ; white settlement of 
the island, 339, 340, 341 ; Cofiin school and 
Admiral Sir Isaac Coffin, 342 ; black-fishing, 
343,344; blue-fishing at the Opening, 344, 
345,346; Coatue, 347; Indian legends. 349; 
Indian absolutism, 350 ; wasting of the shores, 
350; Siasconset, 351, 352; tiie great South 
Shoal, 353; Sankoty Head, 354; Surfside, 
354. 



456 



INDEX. 



Narraganset Ba}-, Verrazani's sui^posed sojourn 
in, 351). 

Navitican or Nauticon. See Nantucket. 

Nelson, Horatio, Lord, chivalric conduct of, 395. 
See note ; death-scene of, 433. 

Nelson, John, important services of, 98. 

Newcastle, 196, et seq. ; the Pool, 197 ; old char- 
ter and records, 198, 199 ; Little Harbor, 200. 

New England of ancient writers, 17-27 ; early 
names of, 18, 19 ; first called New England, 
20 ; attempts to colonize, 24 ; qualit}' of emi- 
gration to, 25 ; patents of, 133 : supposed visit 
of Northmen, 369, note. 

Newfoundland, English occupation of, 23 ; seiz- 
ures of Portuguese at, 24 ; Basques at, 126 ; 
• fisheries of, 156. 

New France, New England included in, 20, 21. 

New London, sail up the Thames, 422 ; the town 
and its beginnings, 422, 423 ; light-houses and 
light-sliips, 423, 424 ; Hempstead House, 425 ; 
Court - house, 424 ; old burial-ground, 426 ; 
the harbor, 426 ; Arnold's descent, 428, 429. 

Newport Artillery, 363, 364. 

Newport, the old town, 356, et seq. ; its climate, 
357 ; approach from sea, 357, 358 ; its com- 
merce, 359 ; street rambles, 359-372 ; City 
Hall, 360; Coddington's Cove, 362 ; the Wan- 
tons, 362, 363 ; State House, 368, 864 ; Jews' 
cemetery, 365, 366, 367 ; Redwood Library, 
867, 368 ; Old Stone Mill, 369, 370, 371, 372; 
Cliff Walk, 878, et seq. ; Forty Steps, 374 ; 
cottage life at the sea-side, 375 ; Lily Pond, 
Spouting Hock, and Brenton's Reef, 376 ; Fort 
Adams and Fort Day, 377, 378, 379 ; Napo- 
leon's engineer, 878, 879 ; Dumplings, 880 ; 
Hessians, 381; the drives, 881,382; the beach- 
es and Purgatory, 882, 888 ; Hanging Rock 
and Whitehall, 384 ; the French occupation, 
386, etseq.; French di])lomacy, 387; attack of 
D'Estaing, 887, 388 ; celebrities of the French 
army and navy, 388-397; Rhode Island cem- 
etery, 398, et seq.; Quaker annals, 401, et seq.; 
other burial-places, 405, 406. 

Noailles, Viscount de, 391, 392. 

Norembegue. See Norumbega. 

North, Lord, how he received the news of Coni- 
wallis's surrender, 398. 

Northmen, supposed voyage to New England, 
369, note. 

Norton, Francis, settles at Agamenticus, 181. 

Nornmliega, river and country of, 18, 19, 21 ; ex- 
])lored by Champlain, 28. 

Norwicli, approach to, 434 ; the Mohegans, 485, 
486, 437; the town, 489, 440, 441. 

Nubble, The, not Savage Rock, 120. 

Nurse, Rebecca, executed for witchcraft, 213, 224, 
226. 



O. 

Oak Bluffs, cottage city at, 375. 

Odiorne's Point, first settlement of New Hamp- 
shire at, 200. 

Ogunquit described, 114, 115. 

Old Colony, seal of, 267. 

Oldham, John, his ingenious punishment at Plym- 
outh, 286, 287 ; killed, 421. • 

Old South Church, Boston, New England, library 
in, plundered, 268. 

Old Stone Mill, Newport, 369, 370, 371, 372. 

Orleans, ancient wreck discovered at, 322. 

Ortelius, map of, 19, 20. 

Otis, James, at Plymouth, 288. 



Paddock, Ichabod, teaches Nantucket men how 
to take whales, 315. 

Parris, Samuel, witch-finders at his house, 218 ; 
his minutes of examination, 224. 

Peabody, George, 218. 

Pease, Samuel, fight with pirates, 176. 

Pemaquid Point, visit to, 87, et seq.; British de- 
scent at, repulsed, 89 ; porgee fishery at, 89, 90 ; 
early history, 92-101 ; Weymouth, at, 92 ; Fort 
Frederick, at, 96, 97 ; other fortifications, 97 ; 
Fort William Henry, at, captured, 99; ancient 
settlement at, 100 ; Indians kidnaped by Wey- 
mouth, 105. 

Pemetiq. See Mount Desert. 

Pentagoet, meaning of the name, 19, note ; on 
Blauw's map, 21 ; how settled, 25. See Cas- 
tine. 

Penobscot Bay and River, Champlain's account 
of, 18, 19 ; called Pemetegoit, 19 ; meaning of 
name, 19, note ; called Pembrock's Bay, 21 ; 
Smith's account of, 24 ; approach to in a fog, 
58, 59 ; described, 63, 64. 

Penobscot Expedition, history of, 68, 69. 

Pepperell, Andrew, his affair with Hannah Wal- 
do, 61. 

Pepperell, Sir William, 61 ; sketch and residence 
of, 144-147 ; portrait of, 145, 146 ; his tomb, 
147 ; Pepperell William, Sen., 188. 

Perry, Oliver Hazard, 363 ; monument to, 401, 
404. 

Peters, Hugh, 445. 

Philip, King, 849 ;. seat at Mount Hope, 414 ; his 
capture, 416. 

Phips, Sir William, builds Fort William Henry, 

■ 97 ; his connection with witchcraft, 210 ; ac- 
cusation of his wife, 214. 

Pigot, Sir Robert, defends Newport, 387. 

Pilgrims, the, not strictly Puritans, 280 ; their 
church, 280, 281, 282 ; land at Cape Cod, 307. 



INDEX. 



45: 



Pillory, one described, 3G5. 

Piscataqua, capture proposed, 80 ; sail down, 
159 ; Earl Bellomont's ojjiuion of, l'J7. 

Plymouth Bay, 2(58, 274, 275. 

Plymouth Beach, 201). 

Plymouth, on Smith's map, 21; establishes a 
trading-house at Castine, 70 ; dispossessed, 70, 
77 ; tiie colony patents, 133 ; Plymouth de- 
scribed, 202: Pilgrim memorials, 203-207; 
pictures of the "Landing,"' 204; first duel at 
Plymouth, 200; the colony seal, 207; the 
compact, 207; first execution, 207; Pilgrim 

. laws and chronicles, 208 ; Burial Hill, 208, 
276, 277, 278, 279; the harbor, 268, 209; 
names of the settlement, 270 ; why it was 
chosen, 271 ; desolated by a plague, 272, 273 ; 
French make the first landing, 274, 275; oth- 
er settlements called Plymouth, 276 ; Pilgrims' 
first church, 278 ; church customs, 279, 280 ; 
Leyden Street, 283, et seq.; the town in 1027, 
284; Governor Bradford's, 280; AUyne House, 
287 ; Cole's Hill, 288 ; Plymouth Rock, 289 ; 
the Landing, 290, 29i ; Samoset, 292 ; entry 
of Massasoit, 293, 294 ; Clark's Island, 295, 
et seq. See article, Clark's Island, Plymouth 
Beach, 290. 

Plymouth, England, 270. 

Plum Island, 421. 

Point Judith, 357. See note. 

Point of Graves, 196, 202. 

Poore, Ben Perley, mentioned, 22, note. 

Popliam, Chief-justice, efforts to colonize New 
England, 93, 94. 

Popham, George, leader of the colony at the 
Kennebec, 93 ; death, 93. 

Popular superstitions, some enunierated, 114. 

Porcupine Islands, 43. 

Port Royal settled, 95. 

Port St. Louis. See Plymouth, 275. 

Pound, Thomas, a pirate, 176. 

Poutrincourt, Biencourt, arrives at Port Royal, 35. 

Poutrincourt, Jean de, receives Port Royal from 
De Monts, 34 ; his fight with natives at Cape 
Cod, 308. 

Pownall, Thomas, builds a fort on the Penob- 
scot, 06. 

Prior, Matthew, allowed roast beef in Lent, 314. 

Provincetown, described, 309-312; Town Hill, 
311 ; cape names, 312 ; Portuguese colony 
at, 312, 313 ; fishery of, 313, et seq. ; whaling 
from, 315 ; the desert, 316 ; cranberry culture, 
317; walk to Race Point, 316, et seq.; tlie 
sand-avalanche, 319; huts of refuge. Herring 
Cove, 319 ; the terrible winter of 1874-'75, 
320 ; disasters on the ocean side, 321, 322. 

Prudence Island, 380. 

Purchas, Samuel, quoted, 24, 



Purgatory Bluff, 383. 

Puritans distinguished from Separatists, 280, 
Putnam, General Isiael, birthplace of, 217; la- 
conic letter to Governor Tryon, 218. 

Q. 

Quakers as sailors, 330. See note, 401, et seq. : 
persecution in New England, 402, 403; 'burial 
customs, 404. 

Quincy, Dorothy (Madam Hancock), 205. 

Quincy, Josiah, 406, 

Quincy, Judith, 357. 

R. 

Race Point, 311, 319. 

Ramusio, Gianibetta, map cited, 21. 

Rasieres, Isaac de, at Plymouth, 278, 283. 

Razilly, Isaac de, commands in Acadia, 77. 

Redwood, Abraham, 367, 368. See note. 

Redwood Library, Newport, 368. «See note. 

Revere, Paul, in Penobscot expedition, (i8. 

Rhode IslanJ, island of, 407, et seq.; Tonomy 
Hill, 407 ; the Glen, 408 ; Prescott's capture, 
409, 410 : Talbot's feat, 410, 411 ; early stages, 
411 ; Lawtpn's Valley, 412 ; early settlement 
of, 413, 414 ; Revolutionary earthworks and 
history, 413, 414. 

Richmond's Island, 369, note. 

Rochambeau, Count, proposes the capture of 
Penobscot, 71 ; at Newport, 388, 389, 390, 391. 

Rockland, brief sketcii of, 59, 00. 



Saco Beach, superstition relative to, 114. 

Saco River, on Blauw's map, 21 ; Richard Vines 
at, 133 ; De !\Ionts there, 154. 

Salem in 1092, 220, 222 ; old witch house, 223 ; 
Witch Hill, 225 ; hanging the condemned 
witches at, 220; formation of church at, 281. 

Salem Village, witchcraft at, 208, et seq. ; the 
Witch Ground, 213 ; names of the witch-find- 
ers, 213, note ; their motives and power, 214 ; 
humors of witchcraft, 215, 210. 

Salmon, disap]jearance of, ()4. 

Saltonstall, Captain, commands in Penobscot ex- 
pedition, 08 ; disagreement with General Lov- 
ell, 69. 

Samoset, sagamore of Pemaquid, 96, 264 ; at 
Plymouth, 292, 293. 

Sandeyn, Arthur, 256. 

Sankoty Head, 354. 

Sargent, Henry, paints "Landing of Pilgrims," 
204. 

Sassafras, its medicinal virtues, 120. 

Savage Rock, probably at Cape Ann, 120, 121. 



458 



INDEX. 



Say, Lord, proposes to emigrate to New England, 
44G. 

8aybrook, 441, ef seq.; Hart mansion, 448 ; old 
fortress at the Point, 444 ; settled, 445 ; Crom- 
well's proposed emigiation to, 44G ; ol<l burial- 
place, 440, 447, 448. 

ycallop-shell, its historical significance, 348. 

Schooner Head, a visit to, 4G. 

Seabury, Samuel, Bishop, 425. 42G. See note. 

Sedgwick, Robert, at Pentagoet and Jamaica, 78. 

Selman, John, 251. 

Sewall, Samuel, recants his belief in witchcraft, 
225. 

Sewall, David, 136. 

Siieatfe, Jacob, 151. 

Sherburne. See Nantucket. 

Shipwrecks: the Isidore, 117, et seq.; on Smut- 
ty Nose, 184; the Nottingham, 172, 173; at 
Cape Cod, 272; the General Arnold, 2i)G ; the 
James Rommel 1 , 320, 321 ; the Giovanni, 321, 
322 ; Essex, of Nantucket, 337. 

Siasconset, Nantucket Island, visited, 350, 351, 
352. 

Siddons, Sarah, anecdote of, 376. 

Smiberr, John, at Newport, 384, 385. See note. 

Smith, Captain David, 31G, note. 

Smith, John, names New England, 20 ; his map, 
21 ; mentions Moiihegan, 104 ; monument. 
Star Island, 1G7 ; Appledore, 189 ; account of 
Cape Cod, 307. 

Smutty Nose Island, 160, 175, 182. 

Somes's Sound, 31, et passim. 

Somesville, Mount Desert, 30; first settlers of, 33. 

Southack, Cyprian, his ciiart, 308. 

Southworth, Alice (Carpenter), 284, 285. 

Sparhawk, Harriet Hirst, 147. 

Sparhawk, William (Pepperell), 147. 

Standish, Miles, his swoi-d, 2G6 ; residence, 300 ; 
sketch of, 301. 

Star Island, 160, 162, et seq. 

Stephens, Kev. Josiah, epitaph of, 1G6. 

Steuben, Baron, arrival at Portsmouth, 207. 

Stevens, General Isaac Ingalls, 401. 

Stiles, Dr. Ezra, at Newport, 304, 368. 

Story, Elisha, 248. 

Story, Joseph, birthplace of, 248. 

Stoughton, Williatn, 225. 

Stratford, Earl of, 204. 

Stuart, Gilbert, anecdote of, 406. 

Sullivan, John, 200, note; fights a battle on 
Rliode Island, 419. See note. 

Surriage, Agnes, marries a baronet, 256. 



Talbot, Silas, brilliant achievement of, 410, 411. 
Tarrantines, their country, 19, 24. 



Taunton River, 414, 415, 416, 417. 

Temple, Sir Tiiomas, renders Port Pentagoet, 
74, 78. 

Ternay, M. de. Admiral, dies at Newport, 391. 

Thatcher, James, 264, note. 

Thaxter, Celia Laighton, 192. 

Thevet, Andre', cited, 19, note. 

Thomaston, Maine, named, GO, note. 

Thompson, David, at Little Harbor, 201. 

Totten, General Joseph Gilbert, builds Fort Ad- 
ams, 378 ; relations with General Simon Ber- 
nard, 379. 

Touro, Abraham, 366, note, 367. 

Touro, Judah, 367, note. 

Trevett, Samuel, 253. 

Truro, Provincetown part of, 309. 

Tucke, Rev. John, 163, 166, 167. 

Tucker, Samuel, 252. 

Tuckanuck Island, 344. See note. 

U. 

Uncas, fights and conquers Miantonimo, 435 ; 

slays him, 4^6 ; burial-place, 436 ; friendship 

for the English, 437. See note. 
Underbill, Nancy J., death at Star Island, 170, 

171. 

V. 

Vane, Henry, procures a pass for New England, 
94,413. 

Vaughan, Colonel William, 146. 

Verrazani, Juan, his voyage, 20 ; gives New En- 
gland a Cliristian name, 20. 

Vines, Richard, in New England, 133, 272. 

Vinton, Rev. Francis, burial-place of, 401. 

W. 

Wadsworth, Peleg, in Penobscot expedition, 68 ; 

kidnaped, 69 ; escapes from Fort George, 70, 

71. 
Wagner. Louis, 138, 185, 186. 
Waldo, Hannah, marries Thomas Flucker, 61. 
Waldo patent. See Muscongus patent. 
Waldo, Samuel, sketch of, 61. 
Wanton, Joseph, his personal appearance, 363, 

see note ; portrait of, 368 ; arrested, 405. 
Warren, James, originates a Revolutionary junto, 

288. 
Warren, Mercy, her history of the Revolution, 

288. 
Wasliing-day in New England, inaugurated, 307. 
Washington, George, at Kittery, 151 ; at Mar- 

blehead, 247; disapproves the occupation of 

Newport by Rochaijibeau, 389 ; at Newport, 

391. 



INDEX. 



459 



Watch Hill, Tlhocle I.-;lantl, 420. See note. 

Webster, Daniel, lesideiice and burial-place, 302. 

Wells, Maine, walks in, 1 10 ; beach rambles, 111, 
112, 113. 

Wentworth, Benning, his mansion. Little Harbor, 
203, et seq. 

Wentworth, Frances Deering, 20G, 207. 

Wentworth, Hon. John, 202. 

Wentworth, John, 202. 

Wentworth, Sir John, sketch of, 20G, 207. 

Wentworth, Colonel Michael, 206, note. 

Wentworth, Samuel, 202. 

Wentworth, Reginald, 201. 

Wej'mouth, Captain Geoi'ge. See note, 76 ; ac- 
counts of his voyage, 92 ; at Monhegan Isl- 
and, 104, lO.".. 

Whale-fisher}- in New England, originates at Cape 
Cod, 315 ; of Nantucket, 331, et seq. 

Wheelwright, John, sketch of him, 110. 

White Island, 160, li)2. 



Whitefield, George, 147. 

Williams, Roger, residence of, 222 ; on Quakers, 

404, 413. 
Winslow, General John, .303. 
Winthroj), John, Jun., 422, 423, note. 
Witchcraft. See Salem Village. 
Wood End, 311. 
Wyllys, Samuel, buys Plum Island, 421. 



Yale College, founded at Saybrook, 448, 449. 

Yankee, disappearance of the, 442. 

York, called Boston, 21 ; Cape Neddock, 122 ; 
York Beach, 127 ; York Harbor. 130 ; histor- 
ical resume, 131; indifferent ie)utation of, 
132; meeting-house, first parish, 134 ; old jail, 
136; Woodbridge's tavern, 138; Cider Hill, 
138; garrison-house, 139, 140; Sewall's bridge, 
141, 



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[2^ Haeper & Bkotueub ivill send the following works by mail, postage prejHiid, to any part of the United 

titates, on receipt of the price. 



The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. 

By Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Illustrated by Gustave Dor6. A magnificently Il- 
lustrated and sumptuous volume. Folio, Cloth, Gilt Edges and in a neat Box, $10 00. 

The Boys of '76. 

A Hisiorv of the Battles of the Revolution. By Charles Carleton Coffin. Copiously 
Illustrated. 8vo, Cloth, $3 GO. 

The Life and Habits of Wild Animals. 

Illustrated fiom Det^igns by Joseph Wolf. Engraved by J. W. and Edward Whyinper. 
With Descriptive Letter-press by Daniel Giraud Elliot, F.L.S., F.Z.S. 4to, Cloth, Gilt 

Edges, $4 00. 

The Life and Letters of Lord Macaulay. 

Bv his Nephew, G. Otto Trevelyan, M.P. With Portrait on Steel. Complete in 2 
vols. 8vo, Cloth, Uncut Edges and Gilt Tops, %o 00 ; Sheep, $6 00 ; Half Calf, $9 50 ; 
Tree Calf, |15 00. 

Selections from the Writings of Lord Macaulay. 

Edited, with Occasional Notes, by George Otto Trevelyan, M.P. 8vo, Cloth, Gilt 
Tops and Uncut Edges, $2 50. '(^Uniform in size and style with the Library Edition of 
Macaulay' s Life and Letters.) 

The Catskill Fairies. 

Bv Virginia W. Johnson. Illustrated by Alfred Fredericks. Square 8vo, Illuminated 

Cloth, Gilt Edges, $3 00. 

Caricature and Other Comic Art, 

In All Times and Many Lands. By James Parton. With 203 Illustrations. 8vo. 
Cloth, Gilt Tops and Uncut Edges, f 5 00. 

The Book of Gold and Other Poems. 

Bv J. T. Trowbridge. Illustrated. 8vo, Ornamental Cover, Gilt Edges, $2 50. (/« 
a' Box.) 

Art Education Applied to Industry. 

By Col. George Ward Nichols. Illustrated. 8vo, Cloih, Illuminated and Gilt, S4 00. 

Art Decoration Applied to Furniture. 

Bv Harriet Prescott Spofford. Illustrated. Svo, Cloth, Illuminated and Gilt, $4 00. 



Valuable and Interesting Works. 



The Earth : 

A Descriptive History of the Phenomena of the Life of the Ghihe. By £lis6e Recltts. 
Transhited by the late B. B. Woodward, M.A., and Edited by Henry Woodward, Brit- 
ish Museum. Illustrated with 234 Maps inserted iii the Text, and 23 Page Maps printed 
in Colors. 8vo, Cloth, $5 00 ; Half Calf, $r 25. 

The Ocean, 

Atmosphere, and Life. Being the Second Series of a Descriptive History of the Life of 
the Globe. By Elisee Heclus. Illustrated with 250 Maps or Figures, and 27 Maps 
printed in Colors. 8vo, Cloth, $6 00; Half Calf, $8 25. 

The Atmosphere. 

Translated from the French of Camille Flammarion. Edited by James Glaisher, 
F.R.S. With 10 Chromo-Litliographs and S^ Woodcuts. 8vo, Cloth, $6 00; Half 
Calf, $8 25. 

Goldsmith s Poetical Works. 

Poetical Works of Oliver Goldsmith. With Illustrations by C. W. Cope, A.R.A., Thomas 
Creswick, J. C. Horsley, R. Hedgrave, A.R.A., and Frederick Tayler, Members of the 
Etching Club. Wiih a Biographical Memoir, and Notes on the Poems. Edited by Bol- 
ton CoRNEY. 8vo, Cloth, Beveled Boards, $3 00 ; Cloth, Gilt Edges, $3 75 ; Turkey 
Morocco, Gilt Edges, $7 60. 

California : 

For Health, Pleasure, and Residence. A Book for Travellers and Settlers. By Charles 
NoRDHOFF. Profusely Illustrated. 8vo, Cloth, $2 50. 

Northern California, Oregon, and the Sandwich Islands. 

By Charles Nordhoff. Profusely Illustrated. 8vo, Cloth, $2 50. 

A Dictionary of Religious Knowledge, 

For Popular and Professional Use ; Comprising full Information on Biblical, Theological, 
and Ecclesiastical Subjects. With nearly One Thousand Maps and Illustrations. Edited 
by the Rev. Lyman Arhott, with the Co-operation of the Rev. T. J. Conant, D.D. Royal 
sVo, containing over 1000 pages, Cloth, $6 00; Sheej), $7 00; Half Morocco, $8 50. 

The Rise of the Dutch Republic. 

A History. Bv John Lothrop Motley, LL.D., D.C.L. With Portrait of William of 
Orange. 3 vols., 8vo, Cloth, $10 50; Sheep, $12 00; Half Calf, $17 25. 

History of the United Netherlands : 

From the Death of William the Silent to the Twelve Years' Truce— 1 GOO. Witli a Full 
View of the English-Dutch Struggle Agninst Spain, and of the Origin and Destruction of 
the Spanish Armada. Bv John Lothrop Motley. LL.D., D.C.L. With Portraits. 4 
vols., 8vo, Cloth, $14 00; Sheep, $16 00; Half Calf, $23 00. 

Life and Death of John of Barneveld, 

Advocstc of Holland. With a View of the Primary Causes and Movements of "The 
Thirty Years' War." By John Lothrop Motley*. LL.D., D.C.L. Illustrated. 2 vols., 
8vo, Cloth, $7 00 ; Sheep, $8 00 ; Half Calf, $1 1 50. 



Valuable and Interest i)ijr Works. 



Pottery and Porcelain of all Times and Nations. 

With Tables of Factory and Artists' Marks, for the Use of rnll,.o,nr. ^> r , t,, 

The Poets of the Nineteenth Century 
Songs of Our Youth. 

^inat^df ^2 5a ' "''"" ''''^''^^' ^^^^'^ " S«t to Music. Square 4to, Cloth, Illu- 

Nooks and Corners of the Neic England Coast 

C::if'orSfMorco^|5?5. ^^^^^" ""— ^"--ions. 8vo, Cloth, |3 50 ; Half 

Peru : 

Incidents of Travel and Exploration in the Land of the Incas. By E. G.okgk S.cek, 
M.A, F.S.A., late L. S. Commissioner to Peru. Wi.h Illustrations. 8vo, Cloth, $5 Oo! 

Contemporanj Art in Europe. 

By S. G. W. Benjamix Copiously Illustrated. Svo, Cloth, Illuminated and Gilt, 83 50. 

The Poets and Poetry of Scotland : 

WnH-."nf fvT'^'''* ' V'^' ^'''f"' '^'■'"^- Comprising Charncteristic Selections from the 
Woiks of the more Noteworthy Scottish Poets, Avith Biocranhical -m,! rHtilnl x^?- 
By James Gka.x W:eso.. With Portraits on'steel. 2 ?S| st, ClL^sTo O^""' 

Pictorial Field-Booh of the Revolution; 

Or, Illustrations by Pen and Pencil of ihe History, Bio-raphv, Scenery Relics and TrndJ 

The Pictorial Field-Book of the War of 1812 • 

ttiis'or'the'rt '1^1 "'t ''"'"' 1 '!'' H'^^-T, Biography, Scenery, Relics, and Tradi- 
t ons of the la.t War for American Independence. By Benson- J. Lussivo With 88-^ 
Illustrations, engrayed on Wood by Lossing and Barri.t, chiefly from origina 'skct hes In- 
the Author. Complete ,n One Volume, 1084 paj:es, large Svo. Price in Cloth SroO 
Sheep, $8 50; Full Roan, $0 00; Half Calf o^ Half MoLco e.xtra, $Io 00 ' ^ ' 

The Geographical Distribution of Animals. 

With a Study of the Relations of Living and Extinct Faunas as Elucidating the Pan 
Changes of the Earth's Surface. By Alpke,. Rcsse. WAr.r.ACK. Author "ite '' M ,1 ;• 
Archipelago, '&c. In Two Volumes. With Maps and Illustrations. 8yo, Cloth, $10 ia 

The First Century of the Republic. 

A Review of American Progress. 8vo, Cloth, $5 00; Sheep, $5 50; Half Morocco, $7 25. 



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